A Second Journey
by Redyoshi14
Summary: Gimult already had his adventure. He got his starter and built his team and saw the world. He was content to live in peace in a back alley of his hometown. Situations abound, and memories from a past life force him to action. It's time for a second journey now, following the sporadic path of Ash Ketchum and his sordid relationship with destiny.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey, just a little side story while I'm struggling with depression. _**

**_It's gonna be humor, but there has to be world building, so this first chapter isn't very funny. _**

**_But hey, better written, right? _**

* * *

The door to the old pub creaked as it opened, letting in the chill of the winter air. Tiny white crystals gushed in for the five or so seconds that the door was open, and the patrons all seemed to scowl from their places in their booths. Still, the newcomer didn't seem to mind. He rushed to slam the heavy oaken door behind him and stomp his weathered leather boots on the mat.

He unwrapped his thick red and blue scarf from around his neck and shucked off his coat, before hanging both articles on the coat hanger near the door. He grumbled, an action that echoed through the otherwise empty bar, alerting the other patrons to his deep, tired voice.

"Winter comes every year, and yet I am never prepared for it."

And it was like that, as if his sentence was a secret password, that the other patrons turned their withering glares away from the door. They turned back to their drinks and their vulgar conversations as they huddled in the limited light of the establishment.

The newcomer paid them no mind. He shuffled with heavy steps over to the bar and all but collapsed onto the stool. He propped his arm on the counter and rested his head in his hands. He stayed as such, a crumpled-up mess of a man, for a few minutes. He said not one word.

When he finally spoke, it was with long, drawn out words. His tired, gray eyes focused on the bartender as he talked. "Hey, Gimult. Let me have whatever it is you got back there."

Gimult, in his white button-down shirt and black suede jacket, didn't even blink at the man's order. He rested the glass he was polishing behind the counter and moved to grab the man's usual.

Lavender Town Vodka was a strong drink, meant to warm the bones of those who lived in a chilly place. The town itself wasn't all that cold. On the contrary, the climate was temperate at best. With the constant presence of ghost types, however…

Well, Gimult didn't like to concern himself with the goings on of that particular place. He didn't understand why people lived in a place that practically sat on the cusp of the Reverse World. Luckily for him, he didn't have to. All he had to do was pour the man his strong vodka.

The man— old if only by the silver-white hair that topped his head like snow atop a mountain— took the full glass of alcohol and downed half of it in one go. He closed his eyes and seemed to allow himself to be whisked back to a time long gone. The wrinkles on his face smoothed out, releasing an entire day's, or week's, worth of stress at once. His fingers, hitherto clenched into fists, slowly relaxed as he let the alcohol run down his throat.

"Thank you," he said. The tinge of unrest, be it fatigue or anger or both, seemed to bleed out. He reached for his pocket, only to be rebuffed.

"I couldn't ask you for money. I could never charge you for your time here."

The old man paused, his lips stretching out into a thin line. "I couldn't possibly drink for free."

"You've been doing so for the last three years."

"Not by choice, mind you."

Gimult chuckled. It was a deep thing that came from his chest, echoing through both his ribcage and the quaint little bar. "Everyone has a choice. You might not be able to choose whether I take your money, but you can choose whether or not you frequent this bar. It's not like I'm the only person in Pallet Town to sell alcohol."

And the two devolved into laughter, at the same time and intensity, their conversation having long since become routine. The old man downed the last of the liquid and pushed the clear, crystal glass over to the bartender. "Another round, please."

Gimult raised an eyebrow but poured the glass anyway. He waited until the man had taken his first sip before talking. "Hard day?"

"Yeah," the old man said, and his words seemed to fall out of his mouth. He sighed heavily, the sound akin to the sound of a breeze through an empty corridor. "Days at the Lab are rarely ever relaxing, but today was especially bad."

"Pray tell?" Gimult asked. He placed the bottle of Lavender Vodka relatively nearby while he turned to fetch another glass.

"A bunch of children started off on their journey today."

"Already?" Gimult asked. His voice raised a few octaves as he considered what most people remembered as a fond pastime. Obtaining your first Pokémon and setting out on an adventure was a big moment, and it brought a smile to his face to hear of another generation of Trainers. "It seems like it was just yesterday that you sent out the last batch."

"Six months pass quickly," the old man said, but punctuated the statement with another sip of his vodka. He downed half of the 11-ounce glass in just two draws. Gimult looked at the man's face. The many wrinkles seemed to return as he relived his day, making crisscrossed grid lines across an almost leathery skin. He wasn't looking at Gimilt, but instead at his cup, eyes taking on a wistful look. Gimult knew the look well.

"They will be fine, Samuel," the bartender said. "They know what they're signing up for."

"No," Samuel said. His voice was harder than usual as he peered up at his conversation buddy. "They don't. They _think_ they do, but they don't. They know of tamed Pokémon, and Champion Pokémon that dance on his tv screen and never rise a claw or fang to their trainers, but they have no idea of a wild one. They have no idea that a wild Weedle, cautious and scared for its life, is just as dangerous to their wellbeing as any Charizard or Salamence. They have no _clue_ that the supposed 'weakest' Pokémon Magikarp can jump thirty feet into the air and land on them, knocking them out and possibly splitting their neck. Most of my trainers die on the path from here to Viridian, and those that don't die in Viridian Forest."

The old man polished off his glass. He pushed the cup forward and waited. Gimult dutifully refilled it.

"I don't like sending those children out so young," the old man named Samuel finally said. It is entirely too early for them."

"I agree, but they must learn somehow."

"They're walking to their deaths."

"I was their age when you sent me out."

"And I didn't like that either," Samuel said. He sipped at his drink. "The fact that you're alive now is a result of your unusual cunning. You're not the norm, Gimult."

The bartender didn't say anything. He refilled the old man's glass before lifting the plank separating the back of the bar with the floor. He made his way over to booths, pouring and making light conversation before making his way back. By the time he did, the old man looked to have thought of something else to say.

"Do you remember the starter I gave you, Gimult?" he asked. The words were the whispers of a ghost. They came out hushed and quiet, as if he were too ashamed to even say them. His eyes were focused like a Pidgeot's on his glass, so Gimult was sure that he missed the nod.

"Yes. Mimey is still with me now. He is the best friend I could have ever asked for."

"He was a _Mime Jr._ Gimult. They can't even make barriers at that age."

The bartender nodded. A forlorn thought quirked the edge of his lips.

"Mimey lacked the ability to do a lot of things. That didn't stop him from learning."

"You could've _died, _Gimult." The old man's voice rose in volume. Not much, but enough to startle the other patrons again. They glanced towards the bar, some even rising from their seats, but the bartender waved them down. Samuel either didn't notice or didn't care. He kept speaking. "Your ingenuity and odd maturity kept you alive. It kept you safe!"

Samuel's voice then fell. A certain rawness snuck in, and even Gimult felt the emotion that had been kept on a tight leash until then.

"It won't be the same for them, Gimult." The old man took a sip of his alcohol. His rate of consumption had finally started to slow. "They're all going to die, the lot of them."

Gimult nodded. He replaced another glass amongst its kin in the rack before retrieving another.

"They attended those classes, right? The ones you forced on them?"

"Of course they did," the old man huffed. "I told the League that I would not send any more children out unless they attended seminars on the reality of the world."

"So they knew?"

The old man laughed. It wasn't one borne of humor. "There is a difference between learning about something from a book and learning about something from experience. I can shove as many pictures of a Mankey tearing a Nidoran horn from tail into their heads, but it won't stop them from being a bunch of brats with wanderlust." Samuel drained his glass. "He's... going to die."

Gimult turned his attention away from the glass. "He... Right. Your grandson left with this batch."

Samuel shook his head. "No... no. Gary is fine. He left in a car, on the main road. He thinks he's traveling with a gaggle of cheerleaders, but they're all Elite Trainers who specialized in espionage. I love the kid, and he's a very bright one, but he's as clueless as a bag of bricks when it comes to his pride. He won't realize that I'm still coddling him until he's well into his journey. By then he'll be able to take care of himself."

Gimult chuckled. "Showing favortism, are we?"

"Hardly," the old man said. He pushed forward his glass, but waved off the alcohol. "I know my limit, Gimult. Water, please. And no, I'm not showing favortism. If I had my way, Gary wouldn't be going on a journey so soon at all. I couldn't stop him, however. My son and his wife had already given him permission. So I could at least protect him. If the other parents cared for their children in the way I cared for Gary, they wouldn't be allowing this to happen."

Gimult didn't respond. He continued to wipe down his glasses until he was sure that they were clean. When he finished, he turned back to the old man, only to see him staring.

There was a question there. One that he was waiting for Gimult to ask.

"If not Gary, then who?"

And then it was as if the old man had suddenly lived every year he had ever lived twice. He sagged, and suddenly Gimult was aware of why the old man was here.

He was here to repent, and there were no religious organizations in Pallet. Samuel was agnostic, so he likely wouldn't have gone anyway.

"He was a bright boy..."

"He's not dead yet, Samuel," Gimult said. He went ignored.

"... a little brash, a little slow, but bright as the sun on a clear day. He challenged Gary's intellect with sheer stubbornness. He tackled every problem with such brute force that it was _forced_ to bend before him. He was... lacking... in theory, but he more than made up for that in showing his creativity in practical exercises. Did you know that the little idiot charged into a Tauros herd?"

Gimult raised an eyebrow. "The one that went rampaging on your farm a few weeks ago?"

"The very same!" Samuel said with a roar. "No Pokémon, no plan, and no prior knowledge to base the half-assed thought he had rattling around his brain! And yet he charged into the hoard with a confidence that's reserved only for the most Elite of Trainers! You wanna know what he did?"

Gimult nodded, honestly invested.

"He held a fistful of _grass_ Gimult. Just grass. He wore a Miltank shirt to catch their attention—who knows why he was wearing it that day or where he got it— and just hoped that they would get the message. The thing is, they _did_. And the whole herd ended up following him to another part of my range before they could reach the town."

"Arceus," Gimult said. "How did he do it?"

"You want his words verbatim? He said, and I quote, '_I just had a hunch_.' Apparently he saw a raging Tauros before, and it calmed almost immediately upon seeing a distressed Miltank. When he saw that, he started keeping things that looked like Miltank around places where Tauros were known to rage. He has a scarf, a hat, and a sweater somewhere else on my ranch."

Gimult laughed. "You're going to have to find those eventually."

"Wherever he's hidden them, they're so well concealed that even my Alakazam can't find discern where they are!" The old man sipped at his water, then choked as he started laughing again. He waved off Gimult's concern. "And, apparently, the herds rage when a certain type of grass isn't available in the area they're raging. He caught the leader of the herd's attention, shoved the grass into its nose, then led them to the part of the range where he got it from. The little bastard did all of that on a _hunch_. A hunch!"

"He's certainly a plucky one."

"And a rare existence. You don't find people with that confidence and drive very often."

Gimult agreed. He nodded his head. "And it is this boy that you fear for?"

"Yes," Samuel admitted after a couple seconds of silence. "Good kid, but so very stupid and headstrong. It wouldn't surprise me if he managed to incite a flock of Spearow mere hours after setting out."

Gimult almost guffawed. "I hardly think he's so stupid as to do something like that. Why would he even travel through the Pallet Forest when there is a perfectly viable road between Pallet and Viridian?"

"He's not great with directions."

"The road is big, with signs, and the only actual way out of town."

"Last known sighting of him had him dragging his starter on a rope into the forest."

"Oh," Gimult said. "Oh dear."

"Yup!" Samuel said. "I couldn't even give him an actual starter. I gave the poor kid a nearly feral Pikachu!"

Gimult paused. The old man hadn't seen it, so absorbed in his own guilt, but the bartender seemed to go as still as a statue.

"Samuel..." Gimult then faltered. "I'm sorry, Professor Oak, would you mind giving me the name of that kid?"

The venerated Professor looked up from his glass. "You know I don't like such stuffy titles in here." His nose scrunched up as if he had just smelled something horrible. "But if you must know, then the young man's name was one Ash Scarletta Ketchum. Son of Delia Ketchum, that girl you used to get along with."

Ash Ketchum.

Gimult closed his eyes.

So it was beginning.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Incident

_**Hey.**_

_**Second Chapter. **_

_**I'm having fun with this one. **_

_**Please, comment.**_

* * *

Second Journey

Chapter 2:

Setting Out

"Mime?" he said. That was all he said, and the fact that he said it at all was telling of how annoyed he was. His body language was neutral, his long spindly arms hanging from his sides like vines, and he adopted the same stance as every Mr. Mime in existence— namely, bent knees and bouncing.

What told me that my starter was upset was the fact that he wasn't using telepathy. Mr. Mime were psychic types, and though his kind typically focused on the more physical side of the art—barriers— it wasn't unheard of for the good-natured Pokémon to master the other arts.

Mimey, my starter and friend, was a masterful representation of his kind. He had mastered telepathy years ago and had forgone the need to speak verbally. He could impress the meanings he wanted to convey directly into his target's brain and opted to do so when communicating unless otherwise unable to.

In this situation he was more than able to. He was simply far too pissed to do otherwise.

"I know," I said. I pulled an old backpack from where I stored it years ago when we had finished our adventure. It was brown, ugly, and ripped in far more places than humanly possible. It also had more pockets than I had fingers and could hold a lake if I tried hard enough. "I told everyone that I would relax. No more ridiculous, life-threatening adventures. No more stupid tussles with destiny. But this is important, old friend. I promise. We need to go on one last adventure."

Mimey didn't look convinced. He places his twig-like arms on his round hips and glares as much as his dimpled face can. By appearance alone, everyone knew that a Mr. Mime can not look threatening. They were practically made to ease nerves and protect. Their barriers defended entire tribes in the past and generations of co-habitation has made it almost impossible for me to be threatened by him.

We both know this. Mimey gives up on the endeavor and his eyes glow a frosty blue. I don't get words, but I get his intentions. Dark thoughts and wicked schemes enter my mind. Had I been a lesser man, I would have buckled under the intimidation. But I have stared down fully evolved dragons with naught but cloth between me and their fangs. While Mimey is undoubtedly scarier, I am used to the intimidation.

"I know, but I would appreciate the companionship."

"Mime!"

"I know, Mimey!" I wail. I stuff some random clothing into my pack. They disappear into the void. "But I have you! And, uh… I have the Boy! That's all I need!"

"Mime, Mister Mime!"

"Oh, he'll come. I know him. He'll whine and cry and complain. He'll kick and toss sand and maybe even bite me. But he'll come."

"Mime?"

"We both know that his children don't need him anymore."

"Mime!"

"They're very strong pups!"

"Mime," he says. He crosses his arms and turns away, ending the conversation. He's upset, but it doesn't matter. I already know that he will follow me. He always has. As I finish stuffing my essentials into the bag, I send my most grateful thoughts to him.

He nods. It's small, almost imperceptible, but it's there.

I smile. He follows me as I leave. As the door to my one-bedroom apartment closes, the sound of wood on wood echoes throughout the now empty room.

XxX

"U-boi!" my Eevee yells, it's mane of white fur ruffles to almost double its own size. It barely come up to mid-calf, but it still looks intimidating. "Eev-U-boi!"

"I know, I know, Boy," I say. My hands are raised in order to try to ward off the aggression. I fail in the endeavor. Standing off in the corner Mimey has a smug look on his face. "But come on, I need you. I can't do this without you!"

The Boy growls. It sounds like what a cloud would if it were trying to hug a batch of newly hatched Litten. I almost coo at the sound, but then Mimey translates the thoughts and the warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart is replaced by sheer terror.

"You can't mean that…" I say, voice quieter than the night. The Boy grins, and his fangs just slightly peek out from under his tiny lips.

"Boi…" was his only, low bark. Mimey translates it for me, but I don't need the confirmation. I know my ornery little guy. He cursed at me in Pokémon.

Mimey laughed along with his old friend, and for a second, I am the butt of my own Pokémon's joke. Then I look beyond, to the little Eevee hatchlings tripping over their own feet in front of their watchful mother. The Glaceon, a remnant of a bygone era of Trainers, peels one eye from her litter and nods at me.

Needing no further confirmation, I dart forward and grab my little rebel by his tail. He snarls and grunts and barks but makes no other retaliation as I drag him away. I catch him peeking back towards his mate— she and her nonchalant grooming of her paw— and he settles immediately.

Since I have _her_ permission, reservations or not, my little Boy has no way to combat me. He may be an Elite—almost Master— level Pokémon, but he is still beholden to the whims of his wife.

I cackle as I carry the little demon away. With a member of the Mr. Mime line and a gloomy Eevee under my belt, it's almost as if I'm setting off for the first time again.

XxX

The Boy hasn't spoken a word to me since we entered the forests of Pallet. Neither has Mimey, but it is his silence that I expect. The impish little Normal-type in my arms, however? I'm used to him haughtily chirping or barking at everything in sight. He says nothing, however, as I brush the occasional Caterpie or rare Wurmple out of my path as I stomp through the forest. When we are a couple hours into the brush, however, I finally get sick of it.

"Boy," I say, and the little imp makes a show of twitching his ear. "I'm sorry. I know you loved peace. And I know that you loved plowing your gorgeous, Ice-type wife."

The Eevee barks, and though it is near silent the Pidgey flee from the trees.

"But this is bigger than you. It is bigger than us. Come take this one last adventure with me, experience the world one last time, and then we can stop. We might even pick up our friends along the way."

That last concept captures my little turd's attention. He shifts his head so that only one eye can cast its glare on me, but he makes a show of giving me his attention.

"Remember Shadow? And Mothra? And the Flash? Oh, and of course you remember your disciple, right? You remember Knighty?"

A smile crosses his face as he remembers the other members of our team. He barks once before jumping out of my arms. Mimey and I stop to stare as my little hellfighter stretches his adorably small legs.

Then he Roars, and it isn't something that can be overlooked. The little miscreant uses the move _Roar_, and all the animals in the forest flee. The area goes silent, and I think even the Onix, hidden miles under the surface of the earth, still as a new apex predator awakens.

Mimey simply rolls his eyes. He taps the old, weathered ball on my belt and returns himself. There is no longer a need for him to protect me if the Boy is releasing his will on the world.

I chuckle, long used to the casual dominance of my team. I pat my little hellion on the noggin as we trek further into the woods.

XxX

It isn't until several hours later that we find the miserable brat. He's clutching his Pikachu in the middle of a clearing. The weather sucks and my feet are tired from all the walking. There are like, fifty Spearows or something hovering in the air above them, all cawing and cackling in unending fury. Above even them a lone Fearow squawks with the superiority of a king.

The Boy turns up his tiny nose. To one such as him any concept of regality is feeble at best and pathetic at worst. Without a command from me he hops from my arms once more and trots into the field. The rain buffers where he passes, coming just short of wetting his eternally well-groomed fur.

I'm not sure when he mastered a form of Rain Dance, but at this point I've stopped questioning the actions of my Pokémon. I just wish he bothered to protect us both from the deluge.

The Boy walks into the middle of the clearing as if he owns it. He smirks, and I'm not sure if it is merely born of haughtiness or some morbid joke that only he gets. He prepares another Roar, and I brace myself for the echoing noise when something stops him.

The Pikachu, Ash's Pikachu, leaps from the boy's protective arms and launches itself towards the avian Pokémon. They screech, and dive in return. The tiny electric mouse's cheeks spark, and I can already see the beginnings of a Thundershock attack.

I can see that it will take out maybe three Spearow. There are about forty-seven more to contend with.

My Eevee, capricious as he is, lets the Roar dissipate in his throat. Then he starts doing something I haven't seen him do in a long time.

He dances.

Dear gods, the damn thing is using Helping Hand.

Now, my Eevee is proficient in many things. He can use any of the elements that his evolutions would have garnered him with the same mastery. He can utilize abilities and skillsets that no other Eevee could boast and do things that completely skew the numbers for all Eevee anywhere.

But my Boy? He cannot use Helping Hand. He cannot use Helping Hand at all.

Now, that isn't to say that he completely whiffs the attack. Eevee are practically made to use the move. My Boy can definitely _activate_ the attack.

But can he use it correctly? No. He cannot.

Helping Hand is a move where you donate some of your energy to another Pokémon. It can be used to buff normal attacks to either competent or unreal levels depending on how much power is given. The stronger a Pokémon is, the stronger the attack becomes.

My Eevee has always been an outlier. Even in his infancy, at the beginning of our first journey, he always had a penchant for doing more than was required. He learned moves that he shouldn't have been able to use. He learned Rain Dance, for Arceus sake.

But Helping Hand? That was never a move he was able to utilize. It took far too much finesse for the Boy; he who could utilize Future Sight, a precision Psychic move that even Espeon struggle with. We tried to work on the attack. Oh, we tried. But my Boy always managed to either put in too much or too little energy.

The clouds above turned from a rumble to a roar, and I knew that this was one of those "too much" times.

"U-BOI!" the overpowered little scamp yelled, and the very skies split with his declaration. Lightning burst from the heavens, an embodiment of the energy that my little Eevee was donating and struck the Pikachu with all the force of a Rhydon. The Pikachu, blinded by exhaustion and pain, spared no thoughts towards the odd circumstance.

The entire flock of Spearow fell to the attack. Fifty unconscious birds fell from the sky. Ash stared, dumbfounded at the casual display of power. I, however, rubbed my temple.

"Was that necessary?" I ask my little Boy. The haughty smirk he sends my way answers the question. I roll my eyes, pick him up, and watch from afar as Ash Ketchum, the world's fated Chosen One, scrambles away with his tail between his legs.

Only one thought comes to my mind.

"Fucking hell," I mutter. "Why did you have to prove the old man right?"

XxX

Fearow hovered on shaky wings in the sky above the clearing. When an injured member of his flock summoned the rest of them, he came with a vengeance. Like all the other prey in the forests of Pallet, it would be a quick hunt.

Then a certain smell came to him. One that he hadn't encountered since he was a Spearow.

He turned, ignoring the smell of burnt feathers and the sound of his battered kin, to focus on the sight of a single Eevee.

Fearow knew that puffed up scruff. He knew that haughty smile. He turned his attention from the little terror to the trainer, and he recognized the man.

It was the trainer that tried to catch him, oh so many years ago. The very same trainer that, in a moment of desperation, told his Eevee to his Helping Hand on his Mr. Mime.

The same trainer that wiped out half of the forest by accident.

Fearow knew when to cut his losses. He flapped his wings against the rain and flew away.

XxX

Mr. Mime chuckled as we sat around the campfire. Night had fallen, and as such it was time for rest. Mr. Mime had started attending to the meal— a simple thing of soup.

The Boy and I, however? We were currently in an intense yelling contest.

"I _know_ he was a little bastard! But we didn't fare much better the first time we came out here!"

"U-boi!"

"We killed like, twenty Spearow! That's no better than him!"

'U-boi."

"I _know_ that we survived on our own, but mass genocide isn't a much better deal!"

"Boi."

Oh whatever!" I yell. I fold my arms and turn away, proving that Trainer and Pokémon really are alike. A couple minutes pass with the crackling of the campfire being the only noise, but before long I feel the furry little bastard climb into my lap.

"U-boi," he says. He then closes his eyes and falls asleep. Absentmindedly


	3. Chapter 3: Viridian City

A Second Journey

Chapter 3:

Viridian City

By the time I reached Viridian, Ash had already gotten into his trouble with the Idiot Trio. The Pokémon Center, where I had hoped to spend some time relaxing, had already exploded from unified Pika-power, and as such I was forced to look elsewhere to lodge for the night. Since we didn't feel like roughing it, we were forced to look for hotels.

Seeing as we were in Viridian, however, this didn't work out very well.

"I'm sorry," the beady eyed man said. He was constantly patting a cloth to his head, wiping the sweat from the bald patch in the center. "But we are totally booked."

I inched to the side, and spied the multiple keys hung on the pegboard behind him. Some were missing, but a majority of them were still there. I turned back to the man to see him nervously smiling, no doubt tracking the path of my eyes.

"Full, you say?" My sentence punctuated by a very furious Eevee jumping onto the desk. The Boy grunts and puffs himself up before kicking the bell off the desk. It goes soaring into a wall and cracks. The wall. It cracks the wall.

Normally I'd admonish The Boy for such behavior but seeing as this was the eighth motel and _twelfth _establishment that has given us such bullshit responses, we're a little on edge.

"M-my apologies, sir," the motel manager squeaks. His hands fiddle under the table, and on cue a door off to the side opens and a mean-faced man stumbles out. Behind him is a Machoke with more scars than fingers and they both glare at me with their arms crossed. "We don't want any trouble, okay?"

The Boy sputters, before looking at me in delirium. He gestures with his paw at them, before cackling, as if the very audacity of their claims at violence was funny. In all honesty, it was, but I truly wanted no problems, so I scooped up my, still snarling, Eevee and glared as much as my ever-young face could.

"I see. No vacancies. Gotcha. I understand."

Then I backpedaled out of there, The Boy likely spitting and snarling at me about saving face and not finishing a job. I knew that he wanted nothing more than to tear that establishment to the ground, but there was nothing we could do about it.

Wrecking towns was a pastime of a bygone era. It was the activity of a boy with a full team of monsters. I, currently, had two. Two monsters who hadn't had a serious fight in who knows how long.

So instead we trekked outside again. Nighttime had fallen in Viridian City, casting the multitude of two-story houses in a twilight glow. A veil of purple coated the town, giving it an ethereal glow. Lights had come on, and the rows of alleyways and worn dirt streets were now alit by artificial lighting.

In all truth, Viridian was a small, sleepy little town. Not as small as Pallet, for sure, with its maybe fifteen buildings and budding commercial center, but small in its own way. Very few roads were actually paved, and even fewer people cared for them. Transportation was still done mostly by Pokémon, and the people were happy for it. Viridian was a city— and despite its shortcomings it _was_ a city— that was content in its antiquity. It reveled in its tradition and was no worse for it.

The reason why? Other than the fact that it was built on the only road to the Indigo Plateau, it was also the home to the Indigo League's strongest Gym.

Led by Giovanni Matsuri, it was the home of the Earth Gym, and had a record of giving out only three badges in its fifteen-year run.

It was to this hellhole that I was traveling now.

The Viridian Gym was a quaint little thing. It towered above all the other buildings in the city and had maybe as many as fifteen floors. Every floor was covered in glass, and yet it was impossible to see more than a couple feet into the structure.

Giovanni claimed it was brilliant architecture, meant to show the complexities of the Earth types. He claimed that it emulated how an Earth type could see out into the world, and yet none could see into their machinations.

I knew better though. I kicked the door in upon my arrival. The secretary screeched, her hand flying under the table to press the emergency button hidden there. A glass door slid open shortly after, and the security for the building came thundering out. Unlike the rundown motel muscle earlier, however, this man was intimidating.

"Stop," he said. Nothing more, nothing less. He carried an air of authority and power about him that demanded attention, if not respect. He was far less scarred than the bouncer from the motel, in fact his body seemed free of blemish, but his eyes…

… his eyes were that of a person who had taken a life.

"What business do you have here, sir?" he asked, and a perfectly manicured brow rose with his question. He loosened the tie around his neck and unbuttoned a few of the buttons on his black tuxedo. "Whatever it is, I'm sure that it can wait until we're open."

The smile on my face came unbidden. The Boy cackled beside me, and had the man not been trained by Giovanni himself I was sure he would have flown into a rage at the sheer condescension that the little Eevee managed to convey.

"You see, I didn't have business here at all," I said with an air of nonchalance. I had wandered over to the only chair in the entire lobby. It was a sofa, with enough room for exactly two people and no more to sit on it. The chair, although I remember seeing it the last time I was here, looked brand new. Seeing as people habitually avoided this gym, and that Giovanni didn't accept any trainers with less than seven badges, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the couch didn't receive much use.

I felt the need to sit in it, just to prove a point. I refrained, however. Instead I turned back to the guard.

"No, I didn't want to come here at all. I would have avoided this Gym if I could. But _someone_ was enough of an asshole to blacklist me from every major establishment in the area. Only one person has that kind of authority in Viridian. I've come to say hi."

The guard didn't look too pleased with my lackadaisical answer. His hand moved to his belt, no doubt to retrieve a monster of a Pokémon, when the glass door behind him slid open once more. A young man, no older than twenty, sauntered into the room. He took one look at me, smiled, then waved down the guard.

"This is what all the commotion is about?" the young man asked, a smirk on his lips and laughter on his tongue. "An old man just starting his journey? Aren't you a little late to the party, gramps?"

At 28, I would think that I wasn't much older than he was, but then again time is relative. Still, this young man was assuming a lot. Still, again, if he wanted to play that way…

"I guess I am," I said, rubbing my chin. "But isn't it past your bedtime, brat? Does Daddy Giovanni know you're out past curfew?"

Unlike the guard, the Gym Trainer in front of me wasn't personally raised by the Earth Pillar. A vein bulged on his forehead as he thundered towards me.

"What did you say, you prick?" the boy asked. "You want to take this to the field?"

Yes. Yes I did. Dear Arceus, yes.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Misoka," the guard said. He took one look at my Eevee and frowned. "I think there's more to this guy than you know."

"Bullshit," said the hot shot. His foot tapped impatiently on the ground. "I don't need to take any shit from an old man and his _Eevee_. Escort the old prick to the battlefield." And then he was off, all emotion and young anger.

The guard sighed and let his hand fall from his waist. He stared as the young Gym Trainer stormed off and waited until the glass door closed behind him to speak.

"I don't understand why the Boss hires such hotheads," he said. "All emotion and only a bit of talent. It's sad."

I nodded. Trainers weren't how they used to be. Then again, things were different from when we were beginning Trainers. I took another look at the guard— at the way he never took an eye off my Eevee, and how his fingers constantly traced a path over the three balls on his waist— and knew that he was likely from the same generation I was. Possibly older.

This man was likely stronger than any other Trainer in the building, save Giovanni himself. Still, that wasn't supposed to be known, most likely, and thus he had to stand down when ordered by the Gym Trainer.

I took pity on the man. "Listen, I'm not here to cause any trouble."

The guard looked back to me and raised his eyebrow again. "You kicked in our door."

"That's how I've always greeted ol' G."

"You speak as if you know the Boss."

And at that I smiled. I peeled back my jacket to show the inside pocket, and the fifteen odd badges pinned there. The guard scoffed and ignored most of them, but stilled when he saw the old, scuffed pin located near the top.

It was a green hued feather. One would notice it anywhere.

"Impossible," he said. "There's…"

"Let Giovanni know I'm here," I said, cutting him off. Then I walked past him and into the sliding doors where the pompous Gym Trainer went.

XxX

"Took you long enough," the Gym Trainer snarled, a Pokéball in his hand. He tossed the thing, shining and new, in the air as he stood in the Trainer box across the field from me. "I was starting to think that you'd wizened up and left."

I didn't say anything as I stepped into my own Trainer Box. Giovanni kept his field plain, and thus it was nothing more than a rectangle on the field made by League-issued chalk. The stadium itself was nothing more than a smooth dirt platform, though I was sure that it extended far into the earth beneath us.

"The Boy and I wouldn't miss this for anything," I finally said. Beside me my little Eevee barked. It didn't carry far, but I know it went far enough to reach the asshole across from us.

If anything, it just served to bolster the young man. His smile stretched as he regarded my Pokémon and I. He analyzed us and found us wanting. "You know, it's not too late to back out yet. I understand, you started off in Pallet after years of waiting for life to ease up, and now you finally get to go out on your childhood dream. But Viridian City ain't the place for a first badge, kid. If you want that, you should go to—"

"Can we get this going, already?" I asked. "You talk too much."

The Gym Trainer's mouth snapped shut, and the rage-filled sneer returned. "Alright, I was trying to go easy on you, punk, but since you wanna be such a cunt, I guess I can show you the difference between us. This will be a one-on-one, no switchouts, understood?"

I nodded. The Boy nodded beside me.

"Great," the little hotshot snarled. "And, little tip from a veteran Trainer? You might want to use something other than that sniveling little Eevee."

I didn't even need to look down to see the indignation on my Boy's face. Poor bastard. He just doomed himself.

The poor sod wasn't even aware of the ass kicking he just signed himself up for. He tossed his Pokéball and out came the shimmering form of a Graveler. As far as Gravelers went, this one was particularly impressive. Its rocks were sharp and polished, and it was far bigger than most other Gravelers, to the point where I was sure that it would evolve soon. One arm was bulky enough to encompass my entire body, and even the simple action of it stretching sent tremors through the earth.

Truly, this was a powerful specimen.

The Boy yawned as it trotted onto the field. It didn't roar, or bark, or even fluff itself up. It just plodded onto the field on light footsteps.

The Graveler, like its Trainer, scoffed at my Boy. It said something in Pokémon, and Eevee didn't even pretend that it was listening. My Boy turned up his nose after reaching the field, turned his back, then started grooming itself.

Graveler became enraged. Its Trainer did too, to a degree. That neither of them noticed the Taunt attack was a testament to their inexperience. Still, neither the Boy or I was going to pass up the chance to take advantage of it.

By the way, I never taught the Boy that move either. He just kind of… knew it. Such was his nature.

"We're going to _crush_ you!" the Gym Trainer boy screamed. He pointed at my Eevee and barked an order. "Graveler! Use Rollo—"

Before he could finish his statement, my Boy was already across the field and in the giant rock monster's face. There was no announcer for this unsanctioned match so there was no one to tell us when to start. Eevee, ever the competitive battler, didn't believe in starting before he was supposed to.

His opponent ordering an attack, however, was as good an opening announcement as any, though.

Two tiny feet jutted out and hit the rock monster in its face. The Fighting energy therein smacked into the Graveler, gravely injuring it and cracking many of the rocks on its body. The rock monster flew backwards, impacting the psychic shield that surrounded the stadium and straining it.

Neither the Trainer nor his Graveler saw the second Double Kick hit almost right after the first, and I wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

"What?" the man asked. "How did that little throw rug move so fast? Are you doping him on X-Speed?"

I didn't mind the barb, I knew what I was and wasn't doing. My Boy, however? He didn't appreciate that. He walked across the field, as slow and deliberate as possible, towards the Graveler. A Pokémon hopped up on X-Speed couldn't stand to move so slow.

He kept walking, all the way until he was at the feet of the Graveler. Then he waited.

They didn't disappoint.

"Hey, what the hell is wrong with your Eevee?" he asked, a hint of that condescending smile back on his face. How he didn't see this as the trap it was, was beyond me. "Doesn't matter. Graveler! End this with a Hammer Arm!"

I'll admit, I sighed.

"Boy… Use… Fuck it. You already know what you want to do."

And he did. Instead of running or dodging like any _sane_ Eevee would do in his place, my Boy jumped _into _the glowing arm of death. It _should_ have splatted him across the walls with nothing left to even make an Eevee smoothie.

What _actually_ happened was much less sensible.

My Boy… glowed. He glowed, and when he touched the orange hued light of the Graveler's arm he seemed to steal the energy therein. The Fighting type power of the attack transferred through the Hammer Arm and directly into Eevee, fueling the power of his own attack by tenfold.

No, that isn't how Counter works. Seeing as how Eevee's version barely even allowed damage to inflict on him at all, and instead _absorbed_ the energy, I'm not even sure if it could be called Counter anymore.

But he used it. He used Counter. The Graveler was knocked out almost the second that my Boy's tail, now chocked full of both his own Fighting-type energy and the Graveler's, hit his face.

The Pokéball didn't even wait for the Gym Trainer to recall the Rock-type. The red beam shot out as soon as Graveler was in critical condition and sucked the poor monster back into the safety of the stasis.

My Boy, despite almost murdering that poor behemoth, merely smiled.

"Wh-what?" the ignorant Trainer said. "How did you… I want a rematch!"

"No," was the one-word reply. But it didn't come from me. It came from a voice I knew well, and one that knew me. The Gym Trainer blanched as a pair of footsteps echoed throughout the now quiet battlefield. When they reached his side of the field he quickly bowed away.

"Mr. Giovanni, sir!" he pleaded, but the man didn't pay him any mind. The Earth Pillar's eyes were firmly trained on me, and judging by the tightness of his rugged, angular jaw, he wasn't too excited to see me.

"There he is, sir," the guard said, his voice low and deferential. "He has your badge?"

Giovanni didn't respond, at least not immediately. The frown on his face seemed etched there as he regarded both myself and the Eevee grooming himself in the middle of his battlefield.

"Yes," he finally said. "I remember Gimult."

"And I remember you, you square-faced asshole!"

My response wasn't the most eloquent, but it got the job done. The Gym Trainer tensed, no doubt ready to push my face in, even if he had to do it himself. Giovanni waved him down, however.

"What do you want, Gimult?" the man asked. He looked stoic, with his hair perfectly groomed and all. His suit, red with pink pinstripes, looked as if it was bought just this morning. But I knew better. The man wanted to be anywhere but here.

"I want to sleep," I said. "But someone has me on some sort of blacklist."

"I wonder who it could be?" he asked, but I could see through his bullshit any day of the week.

"Let's cut the shit, Big G. I know it's you. It couldn't be anyone _but_ you. So either lift this stupid ban or I'm sleeping in your room."

Giovanni seemed to contemplate my words. I knew he wasn't, though.

"No," he said.

"Fuck you," I replied.

Giovanni plucked a Pokéball from his belt. "Fine, if you can beat me in a battle. One on one."

"Great!" I said. I then meandered across the field. I passed both the Gym Trainer and the guard, neither of which could do anything to stop me. When I reached Giovanni, I supposed that both of them expected the big man to stop me.

They were both surprised when he didn't.

"Boy! You know where his room his. When you beat his Rhyperior or whatever come upstairs and break the door down, or something. I'll be asleep already. Mimey will tell you where to sleep."

The Boy cackled a response.

"Oh," I said, not turning around. "By the way, I'm not taking the futon. I'm taking _your_ bed, you big apricot-colored asshole."

I then traveled through the sliding glass door at the back of his battlefield. As the doors slid silently shut behind me, I heard a sound that I never expected to hear again.

Giovanni chuckled. It was a small thing, but it was the closest that the man ever came to laughter.


	4. Chapter 4: Giovanni

A Second Journey

Chapter 4:

Giovanni

Sleep came easy that night. Giovanni's silk sheets were as soft as a cloud and cradled me as I drifted off. Mimey's eyes glowed blue as Reflection after Reflection lined the room. No one would be able to enter without breaking through the screens, and even then, it would wake us up in time.

I slept like a baby, all things considered.

When I awoke the next morning, it was to Pidgey singing outside the window, a fresh cup of coffee, and a woman with striking eyes holding a butterknife to my neck.

"Why are you here, Gimult?" she asked, her gray eyes staring into my own. The tip of her nose was touching mine, she was so close.

"Am I not allowed to be in Viridian anymore?" I asked, to which the stoic girl in front of me frowned. Her eyes narrowed as she took me in, scanning my pajama clad body for any signs of hostility.

I think she was disappointed when she found none.

"I don't mind you being in Viridian," she said, finally. She removed the knife from my throat as she turned to the silver cart that was parked just behind her. "You can come and go in this city as you please. It's not like there is anyone here who can stop you."

I smirked as she talked. I reached over to grasp the handle of the mug on the cart, only to snatch it back when she stabbed at me.

Her eyes narrowed again, but they softened soon afterwards. She added some sugar and milk to the mug before handing it to me herself. I graciously accepted.

I took a sip. "Coffee?"

"Master Giovanni prefers to start his day as such."

"I hate coffee."

"All the more reason for me to make it."

We then went quiet. She fiddled with the food on the cart while I sipped gingerly at the piping hot cup of coffee. Even with the sugar and cream it was far too bitter for me.

"Why are you in the Gym?" she finally asked. She placed a tray with toast, eggs, and bacon before me. It rested over my legs. As soon as it was secure she started to cut up the food. "I thought you promised to never return."

"I did," I said. I reached for a fork. She stabbed at my hand again. I decided to let her work. "But your Boss decided to blacklist me from every institution with a bed."

"He can't prevent you from lodging at the Pokémon Center."

"Someone else seemed to want to blow that up."

We then fell into another silence. She finally deemed the food ready enough for me to eat, and took a step back, hands folded before her, as I ate.

I got a good bit into the eggs before she spoke again.

"Why are you here?" she asked. I swallowed my food.

"Am I not allowed to be in Viridian?"

"You said that you wouldn't journey again. You told me, us, that your adventure was over."

"I didn't plan for this," I said. I bit into my bacon. While enjoying the flavor of the meat I looked over at her. Her maid skirt tightened around her slim waist and went all the way down to her calves. Above the waist her black button-down hung comfortably off her shoulders.

It was my turn to appraise her, and if not for the slight twitch of her fingers I wouldn't have known that my stare had discomforted her. "You're working for Giovanni?"

"It's a living."

"You know that he's _evil_." It wasn't a question. We both knew what kind of a bastard that Giovanni was.

"It's money."

"We both know that money isn't an issue for you. You could make money doing literally anything with a team as powerful as yours. Bodyguarding, bounties, hell, you could work for the Lea—"

The glare I got shut my mouth. The air seemed to still as our eyes met, each of us daring the other to back down.

Of course, I was a stubborn git. No matter how competent she was, she wasn't stupid enough to think that she could intimidate me in a room with two of my Pokémon already out.

"The League isn't any better. Might as well work for the evil that I know," she whispered, her eyes averting away from mine. We both saw the Boy's ear twitch, before folding back against his flank.

"Do we debate philosophy again?" I asked. "You know that Giovanni kills young Trainers and abuses Pokémon."

Her eyebrow raised. "And I don't see how that's any different from what the League does." She shook her head. "Why are we arguing this? You don't have any love lost for the League, either."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Giovanni just doesn't sit right with me. I don't like you working under him."

She frowned. It was such a rare action on her otherwise stoic face that it was almost cute.

"I could have been working under you," she said, her voice barely a whisper anymore. "I never wanted our adventure to end."

I shook my head. "All adventures must come to an end."

XxX

The door opened, creaking while it did. The maid, my friend, showed no effort as she pushed the double doors apart. I followed her into the posh room, my dirt muddled boots sinking into the opulent red carpet below me. At the far end of the room, sitting behind a mahogany desk and framed by the large glass window behind him, was Giovanni. He looked up from his paperwork as I entered but turned back as soon as he confirmed who it was.

The maid stopped before his desk, then gestured for me to take a seat. There was only one other chair in the room, and the intricate design of the wood, combined with the fluffy red cushion, made me think that I was to sit across from the Earth Pillar.

I did so, and when I did the maid made her way over to Giovanni's side. A part of me twisted at seeing her standing there beside him, but another part of me knew that it was her decision.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound that of Giovanni's pen scrawling across various pieces of paper. The situation was set to unnerve me, to tell me that I was here on Giovanni's call, not my own, and it was him who would deign to speak to me, not the other way around. For any others, such a show of petty intimidation would work.

I was short over half of my team, and yet I knew that if a fight were to break out that I would be the only one to leave this room alive. I cared very little for Giovanni's shows of power, and as such I propped my arm on the armrest and holstered my face into my now open palm.

I didn't even try to hide that I was taking a nap. Giovanni finally decided to look up from his precious paperwork and talk.

"You aren't one for ceremony, are you?" he asked.

I didn't bother to open my eyes. "I'm not the biggest fan of subtlety, either. Your bed was comfortable, by the way. It was truly a shame that you couldn't enjoy it."

Giovanni grunted, and I felt his amusement even though he didn't show it. "I did enjoy my bed, quite thoroughly, in fact. By the way, I changed the layout of my Gym last year. My room is now further in the back. How did you enjoy the guest bedroom?"

I frowned. "It was heavenly."

"I expected as much. You're the only one to ever use it. I'm sure you understand why I don't take very many guests."

I could sense the implication. I also didn't care for it. "Indeed."

The Earth Pillar nodded, his angular face not even twitching for it. He turned to my friend and coughed.

"Marissa, I'm sure that you have other things to attend to."

Marissa frowned, but nodded anyway. "There are… things." I knew that there wasn't. The many tasks of the Earth Gym could be attended to by the Trainers or servants. Marissa wasn't someone whose talents were wasted on menial tasks.

"Please, see to them. You're the only one I can trust on certain things."

"Ah," Marissa said. I could tell she wanted to argue. "But… is it safe to leave you alone with—"

"Marissa," Giovanni said, his gaze turning on her. Dismissal clear, Marissa bowed.

"As you wish." And she was gone.

The silence lasted fifteen seconds.

"Mworw," came the call of one of the scariest Pokémon I've ever encountered. The Persian slinked from behind Giovanni's desk, all muscles and deceptive grace. Even on all fours its head crested the top of the desk. It came up to my side, paused, then nudged its head against my hand.

Obediently, I stroked its head.

"I see your starter is as threatening as ever," I said, my fingers working through a knot of muscle just behind the Persian's ear. It was like trying to knead braided cord, but I was managing.

Giovanni grunted. His eyes darted to the corners of the room, then locked onto me again.

"Yes. He's always been protective of me. When my Admins are in attendance he tends to glare from my side. With you, however…"

He trailed off as the Persian all but climbed into my lap. The purr in its throat sounded like a roar to me, and I was all too aware of the deadly claws currently sheathed in its paws. I've seen them cut through steel.

"… he seems to want to keep you close," Giovanni continued. He reached for his own mug and sipped at his coffee.

The feline nuzzled my chest, but I wasn't nearly stupid enough to think that the creature was fond of me. It was only affectionate to its Trainer, and even then, it didn't show it so openly. The Persian wanted to have me within striking distance, and as it was now it could separate my head from my body without much effort.

Still, I pet it as it purred into my chest.

"I see that your starter isn't any less paranoid," the Earth Pillar hummed. "It isn't even nearby, is it?"

Mimey was several blocks away on top of a building that gave him a direct view of this room from Giovanni's oversized window. If the cat so much as twitched incorrectly, Mimey would squeeze it into oblivion.

So I hummed, and caressed the cat who was more my prisoner than I was its.

"How are you doing?" Giovanni continued when he noticed that I wasn't going to answer. "It has been a while since you've left Pallet."

I snapped to catch the Persian's attention. Its red eyes opened, then followed my finger as I ordered it down. It looked indignant for a second, just a second, before complying. Last time it had the audacity to be flippant it had suffered for it.

"I've decided to see the world for a bit. Pallet is a small town. It gets a little lonely."

"Five years is a long time to be entertained by such a small town." Giovanni took a sip of his coffee. "I almost expected you to die in the backwaters."

"Is that fondness I hear?" I taunted. Giovanni wasn't a man of emotion beyond amusement and anger. Fondness was lost to him in adolescence.

Which was why his next words nearly floored me.

"I've always wanted you as my next Admin," he said, and I had to wave for confirmation from Mimey. He pulsed a low-level **Safeguard** into my brain, and my eyes darted around the room as I looked for the Pokémon that was using **Hypnosis** on me.

I didn't find it. I turned back to Giovanni to see him smiling at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You have always been on my list of candidates. Since you walked in all those years ago with just a Mr. Mime and an Eevee and fought your way to—"

I held up a hand. Giovanni, surprisingly, stopped talking.

"What?" I repeated myself.

I think Giovanni could sense the incredulity that I wasn't trying to hide. He didn't say anything in response, and instead let me continue my rant.

"You're more whacked in the head than I thought if you think that I, even for a _second_, would work for the likes of you, Matsuri."

Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "And yet you would sleep in my bed?"

"I would inconvenience you at every possible turn," I replied. "If I learned that stubbing my toe would give you a migraine I would do it twice a day, every day, for the rest of my life. Three times on Saturdays."

Giovanni sipped at his coffee. "I really don't know where this hostility stems from. I have been nothing but cordial to you."

"Team Rocket is an abomination," I said. The glare I sent towards him wasn't cooled in any way by his disarming smile. "While you or they have never harmed me, they, and indirectly you, have harmed a lot of good people. Some of them were close to me."

Giovanni didn't even pretend like he was unnerved by what I said. To him, hurting people was as natural as breathing. He finished off his coffee before setting it aside and leaned forward on his desk to talk to me.

"This world is ugly…"

"You can save the recruitment speech, asshole," I said. "I already know just how ugly this world is. All things considered, Team Rocket is probably the lesser of the many evils that plague this world, Kanto especially. But just because you're the most polished turd doesn't make you something I want to be a part of. No is no."

"The pay really is decent, though," Giovanni continued. He had long become used to me cursing at him. "We offer dental, too."

He smiled again, if only just to show how beautiful his teeth were. The man was many things— unhygienic was not one of them.

"As tempting as that is, Matsuri," I said. "I am not joining your ranks. I despise the idea of working under you."

"Then don't," he said. "Work alongside me. Lead Team Rocket as my equal."

This time Mimey didn't wait for the order. My eyes shined blue under the influence of my Mr. Mime's **Safeguard**, and once again I scanned the room for the Pokémon attempting to mess with my mind. When I didn't find it, I looked back to Giovanni.

"What?"

"I want you to spearhead my operations as a separate entity with powers equal to my own. While you won't be making the decisions on the day-to-day minutia or the deep-seated plans, you would be welcome to intervene and commandeer as you see fit. In return, all that I ask is that you lend your expertise to the cause." The bastard then chuckled. "You would be paid handsomely to do as you please, so long as it benefits the organization in some way. Very few have an offer as generous as this."

I… nodded. It was indeed a generous offer. The only risk involved was that of being found by the League, and I couldn't give a rat's ass about what the League wanted. There were only benefits from me taking the deal, and only a fool would refuse.

"I refuse," I said, then rose from the chair. His Persian rustled as I moved, with it being so close that any movement at all would disturb it.

"I figured as much," the Earth Pillar said. He then sighed, his eyes closing as I made my way to the door. "Just know that the offer is always open. You don't have anything better to be doing right now."

"That's where you're wrong," I responded. The heavy oaken doors opened before I could reach them, a blue psychic hue emanating from the wood. "I happen to be working on something much more important."

And with that I left, the doors moving to close behind me. Before they could, however, Giovanni called out.

"Your Eevee lost the fight, by the way."

I scoffed. "Of course he did. Is that why he was sleeping soundly on the bed this morning, and why your Rhyperior is in intensive care?"

The door closed behind us, and with it, a chapter of my life.

XxX

Marissa was waiting for me outside. A cigarette hung loosely from her mouth as she stared into the early morning sun. She didn't bother to put it out as I approached, and instead just cast a lazy glance my way.

"You didn't accept his offer." It wasn't a question, merely a statement of fact.

"I didn't," I responded. "I'm surprised that you did."

Marissa took another drag. The cigarette burned almost a quarter of the remaining stick before she stopped. She puffed out the smoke, most of it in my direction, before answering me.

"There weren't many choices for us," she said. "The Gym Circuit was beneath us, the League was too. We needed a living, but we couldn't settle for an ordinary life anymore. How could we, when we lived the way we did?"

"There was nothing stopping you from continuing to live that way," I said. "Adventuring isn't a hobby for children. Society needs adventurers to brave the uncharted world."

Marissa shook her head. "I know that. _We_ knew that. We kept going after you left, but… it just wasn't the same. With you, it seemed we bumped into something new every week. When you left… things become aimless."

I nodded but didn't say anything. There was nothing to say to that.

"So we split up," Marissa continued. Her cigarette had burned down to a stinger. "The others went about their own way. Some stayed adventuring, but some settled on other things." She tossed the butt. "I came here. Giovanni gave me an excellent offer, and I didn't have anything else to do." She then paused. "And the dental is great."

I noted her immaculate teeth, and a part of me wondered who they had that worked on dental.

Still, it wasn't enticing enough to get me to work under Giovanni. So, instead, I plucked her next cigarette from her mouth and nestled it in my mouth.

She glared at me, but I was all too used to such things. I gestured at her lighter, and she rolled her eyes. She took out another stick from the pack, lit hers, then mine, and together we took a drag. We stood like that in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm never working for him," I said. I didn't need to say it, but I needed to say something.

"I know," she said. She took another drag.

"I'm on an adventure now," I continued. I figured that I might as well cast the line. "I'm not sure how long it will last, but…"

Marissa shook her head. "I can't handle another adventure coming to an end. We're older now, Gimult. I had to come to terms with it a long time ago. I won't be able to do it again."

I nodded. We stood in silence once more, as we tended to do nowadays, as our cancer sticks burned down to nothing.

When they were barely stingers, I cast mine away. Marissa sneered at the litter but didn't say anything.

"I'm under contract," she said, finally. "Another couple of months and I'll be free, but even then, I'll probably just renew it. Come up with a way to convince me before then, and I'll consider it."

She then tossed her cigarette too, if nothing than to be in solidarity with me. She cupped my face with her hand before making her way back into the gym. I noted the deep red eyes in her shadow staring at me and smiled at them.

Then I walked away. There was nothing left for me here.

XxX

My entrance into the Viridian Forest was one of barely concealed relief. Things were simpler out in the wild, where there were no crime syndicate bosses or old friends to—

A screech erupted from my left.

A bird howled from my right.

Misty and Ash were near, though currently separate.

An exhausted smile came to my face. At least things were back to normal.


	5. Chapter 5: Flint

A Second Journey

Chapter 5:

Pewter City

Ash and Misty collapsed as they exited the Viridian Forest. Their hair was disheveled and messy, and both of them sported twigs and leaves of some sort atop their heads. Their clothing was ratty and riddled with holes, and dirt smudged every square inch of visible skin.

They looked like they were chewed up by the forest before being spit out into Pewter. The only creature who looked even remotely okay with the whole ordeal was Pikachu, whose species practically evolved to survive the area.

"You're never leading me anywhere ever again, Ketchum," the redheaded Cerulean City Gym leader said, the words coming out haggard and between bursts of breath. She cocked back an arm, most likely in effort to hit the raven-haired boy, but her energy seemed to fail. She let the fist drop, before following it to the ground.

Ash took one look at her before falling himself. The two children lay there, on the hill overlooking Pewter, looking like two travelers through a harsh desert.

It was to this scene that a tall, dark-skinned man approached. His gaze was hard as he peered down on the two travelers. He reached out a gloved hand towards the two of them but hesitated when he heard leaves rustling from the forest.

XxX

"I would leave the two alone, Flint," I said. I pushed aside the, thankfully, last branch of the Viridian Forest and made my way out into the hilled plains around Viridian. I spared one glance at the two teenagers I had been meticulously protecting and sighed.

Really, they were in no shape to be traveling at all. They had run into no less than three hordes of Beedrill, two Scyther, and pocket of Venonats. A trainer even _slightly_ aware of themselves would have stuck to the League sanctioned path, but Ash wasn't so safety prone.

Honestly, I expected such bullheadedness from the little accident that masqueraded as a boy, but Misty was a _Gym Leader_. She knew better.

"Are you…" Flint started. His voice was as dry and scratchy as his name implied. He stared at me for a few seconds more before shaking his head and rubbing at a beard that I knew he didn't have a couple of years ago. "No, impossible. That monster was locked away in Pallet."

"I think that's a little harsh. Just because I settled down doesn't mean that I'm trapped. I could leave whenever I want."

Flint chuckled. "If that's what you call it."

XxX

I was expecting a lot of things when Flint led me away. An opulent house, a shitty apartment, or even just a run-down shed. I even expected the Gym itself, though I recognized that it wasn't a very logical outcome.

I never expected a tiny campsite on the side of the road.

"Nice place you have here," I said of the legendary Rock-type trainer. "Real modest."

"Thanks," Flint replied. He tossed another piece of charcoal into the small campfire before tossing the bag back near his tent. "It gets the job done."

Eevee, who could and probably has been eating bug carcasses for the week or so that we traveled through that forest, seemed to agree. He curled up in the dirt around the fire and enjoyed the warmth. It was still early spring, and as such the chill was uncomfortable.

That such a powerful trainer was living in the sticks was even more uncomfortable to me, however. There seemed to be an ongoing trend of powerful trainers debasing themselves.

"You… do realize that your name shows up in history books, right?" I said, slowly. I wanted to make sure that he understood my words and did not miss a single one. "The name _Flint_ _Coal_ couldn't be mistaken anywhere in Kanto, and only a few places in Sinnoh. I don't understand why you're living like this."

"Did you ever stop to think that I prefer this lifestyle?" he asked.

"No," I answered. Blunt and honest, that was my style. "Or did you forget that I know you? You couldn't go three steps without begging to return to a hotel room. You would vacation every day if you could. If it were possible, you'd vacation while on vacation, just to get away from the droll activities of your first."

Flint didn't respond to that. He stoked the coal and twigs in the flame.

"People change," he finally said. He didn't say anything else, however, and the campsite fell into another silence.

I pulled some jerky from my pocket. I bit into the piece I pulled from the packet before tossing the rest to the Boy. The little bastard didn't bother opening his eyes, and instead snatched the piece of meat from the air while essentially blind.

"Aye," I said around pieces of food. "People change. I've personally seen Surge retire from the military to hold a Pillar position. He says that it's to preserve the peace on Kanto's seafaring border, but we both know that's bullshit. He's there to toughen up the baby Trainers, and we all know it."

Flint nodded. He made to open his mouth, but I wasn't done yet.

"I've seen Fuji, a man of science, calm down and pursue religion instead. The man was on the verge of Masterball technology with his brother, and he gave it all up to pray to Ghost-types in a graveyard masquerading as a Town."

I bit off another piece of jerky. I didn't even think as I tossed it. It would make its way to my Boy's mouth one way or another.

"Bill giving up mad science is _people changing_. The Dragon Clan of Johto coming out of hiding is _people changing_. Agatha forgiving Oak, in whatever way her forgiveness manifests, is _people changing_. Finally, Samuel _fucking_ Oak, the resident Pokemon Champion and the _The Terror of the East_ settling down in the middle of nowhere and pursuing a career in peacetime invention is _people changing_. They all have reasoning, and I understood all of them. You, however? I don't understand you."

"Some would say that my transformation is the most sensible," Flint said. He reached for my bag of jerky and I snatched it away. He chuckled at the action. "A man can give up his vain, money-hungry tendencies, can't he?"

I shook my head. "They can, but your vanity is special. I almost respect it. Before you, the Coal clan didn't even exist. You were just a dirty orphan on the streets of Pewter with a dream."

"You've been watching my biographies, haven't you?"

"No, dipshit, I've been listening when you talk. Every time I've met you, you've gone on about how you were a self-made man."

"And damn right I am!" he shouted, his voice scaring creatures in the jungle. I flinched at the sound, something that brings another chuckle to him.

"And it is that pride that makes it hard to believe that you're living like a pauper," I stoke the fire with one of the discarded twigs. The scarlet flame reaches just a little higher before dying down again. "Last I checked, you were still the Pewter City Gym Leader. Why aren't you greeting me there?"

"Maybe I don't want to?"

"Flint, if you could make love to your Gym, I'm sure you would. Stop leading me by the nose and tell me what's up."

The way that the Pewter Gym Leader quickly averted his eyes gave me a bad feeling in my stomach. Of course I remembered what happened with Flint and his son, Brock. It was one of the most fucked up things in the anime. A certain part of me had hoped that my actions in this world changed it. I had already changed so much from my first adventure.

Sadly, my hopes were not to me.

"Well," the old man started. His shoulders sagged, and his posture deflated, as if he were suddenly taking the weight of the world onto his shoulders. "I… can't exactly go back to the Gym."

I raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

Flint opened his mouth. He looked at me and surely he had some excuses to throw my way. I could practically see the words being generated and tossed away in the same second, and I had to wonder whether the excuses he was about to tell me were the ones that he had constantly told himself.

After a few minutes of indecisive silence, the man finally deigned to speak to me.

"I… I had left the Gym."

"That much is obvious," I said. The stick in my hand splintered under my increasing grip. I don't think Flint noticed.

"I wanted to be more than just a Gym Leader, you know?" He rubbed his palms against his pants. "For a while, being a Gym Leader was all that I ever wanted, but then I became..."

My eyes hardened. I'd never been particularly good at restraining my emotions, and that showed through in the way that my Boy's ears twitched. His one eye opened, and though he looked for all the world as if he couldn't possibly care less, I knew that a single command would send the tiny ball of fluff into a frenzy.

"You became a what, exactly?" I asked. I hoped, for his sake, that the Flint that I knew, that I adventured with, wasn't the same Flint from the anime.

"I became a father," he said. "I know that you already met Brock, my eldest. In the time you've been gone, I'd had about nine more."

He looked up and expected me to be surprised. In a way, I was. That was an absurd amount of children. For any parent, even one as wealthy as Flint, taking care of so many children would be difficult.

He expected shock, sympathy, or even joy. My eyes only hardened. If Flint was out here, then it meant that no one was taking care of the family. That responsibility had to lay at _someone's _feet, and with no other parental figure around, that left it up to only Brock.

No matter how hard raising ten children was to an adult like Flint, raising nine for a child like Brock was so many times harder.

"Where are you going with this, Flint?" I asked. Rage was slowly building in me, and it was likely that Mimey felt. The pressure around me started to grow, and I'm sure that Flint felt it. His hand subconsciously went to his belt, and his thumb slid over the button that likely held his strongest Pokemon: a Rhyperior that could demolish mountains given the change.

His hand soon fell. It was a feeble gesture at best. Any jump in hostility would spell his end faster than it was coming.

"I'm… it wasn't enough."

"Being a Gym Leader and father wasn't enough for you, Flint?" I asked. My incredulity was obvious. Like I said, I never was good at hiding my emotion. "What greater honor could you possibly pursue?"

He looked at me, and I realized the implication in his eyes. While flattering, it was not what I was hoping to hear. Right now.

"Don't be a fucking idiot, Flint. I knew you were stupid when we travelled together, but it was an endearing kind of stupid. I thought becoming a father would _change_ that about you."

"If I became stronger," the man started. "I could do more. I could challenge the Elite Four. I could tear the Champion from his pedestal and…"

"… and _what_, Flint?" my voice came out as a yell. I was more monster than man now, and even the Boy flinched under the potency of my rage. "Become _Champion_? Get you name in the Hall of Fame? What does that even amount to? Huh? Did you need to be recognized that bad? You know what the League is like! Is you vanity that impressive that you need the honor of a bunch of soulless fucks?"

"No," Flint said. His words were cowed, but there was a hint of something in there. The warrior that spearheaded all of our reckless adventures couldn't be completely subdued, it seemed.

"Then what, Flint? What could you _possibly_ need that would require you to leave your family behind like this?"

It seemed like that last bit was all that he needed. The ember that simmered in that man's eyes blazed into an inferno. He jolted from his seat, and I was sure that the only thing that prevented us from coming to blows was my powerhouse of an Eevee nearby.

"Money!" he shouted. His fists were clenched so hard I could see the veins poking out from under his tanned skin. "It's money. It's always money, isn't it?"

I went silent. I wasn't expecting such an outburst. I recovered quickly enough. "You're a Gym Leader. You have all the money you need."

"If I were alone, sure," he retorted. "Things might seem simple for a man living alone above a bar, but when you're a father you need to be able to pay for much more. Sure, a Gym Leader is great pay, but when you need to pay for food, medical bills, education and housing for a family of twelve, it's not so _simple_."

The venom in those words would poison a Muk. I didn't have a response, which was perfectly fine. Flint had more to say.

"I know that it's on me. We should have planned more. We should have had less kids. But we were… we were in love. We were young and stupid and… Lola and I weren't _thinking_. Not after the first and not after the last. But we loved them all and… I just… I wanted to do better by them."

"That doesn't excuse leaving them alone for so long," I said. My voice was quiet. For a second I wasn't the powerful Trainer I had grown to be. I was a rookie on the road again for all the expertise I had with this situation. Still, I had to say something. "Ten kids with no parents, Flint? Is it fair to leave poor Brock alone to take care of so many children?"

And it was as if I had grown two Hydreigon heads. Flint looked at me and his face swapped between so many emotions. First confusion, then rage, then disgust. Finally, it landed on something that wrenched at my heart, and his ensuing words almost broke me.

"Do you think so little of me, Gimult?" he asked. His eyes, eternally squinted shut, was so ill equipped to hold back the tears threatening to fill his eyes. "I always knew that I was the reckless child of the group, but… to think you would expect such ill decisions of me. No, Gimult, Lola is with them. I may not be any closer to Champion, but I do send them any money I earn. They're not the best off, but they're doing well."

And like that, I was left with egg on my face.

Flint never said he abandoned Brock this time around, did he? That was an assumption I made. It appears that things _did_ change this time around.

I stoked the fire. I pointedly decided not to look at the man as he wiped at his eyes. We spent the next few minutes in silence, with only the crackling of the early morning fire to break the silence.

"I'm sor—" I tried to say. Flint raised his hand.

"Don't bother," he said. "I already know that I'm not the most responsible. I can't very well be angry with you after how many times you pulled me out of the fire. Besides, I can't pretend that I don't deserve such an assumption made of me."

His waving off my apology only made me feel worse. Still, it would be even less tactful to debate it. I turned back to the fire. We sat through the day completely silent.

"I… I'm not the strongest of us. I've always known this," Flint finally said. I could hear the grumbling of Ash and Misty from not too far away. They were waking up. "But I've always been the most persistent. I thought, as long as I kept pushing, that I would be able to do anything. When you broke up the team, I thought I'd be fine. I had Lola and Brock, and things would be alright. I expected to trip up, I just never expected to stay down."

Flint looked at me. I almost couldn't weather the pure emotion in his eyes.

"I've messed up, Gimult," he said. "And this time you and Marissa and Koga weren't there to pick me up. I told them all that I'd be back with a Championship. I'm a Pillar, we can challenge the top whenever we want. But… I've failed. How can I go back to them now?"

I shook my head. "Flint, it was never about you achieving it. It was about you trying to win a better life for them. They don't need a Champion right now. They need a father. Support them with your presence. It's worth more than money sometimes."

The way Flint looked at me told me that the same words rattled around in his head for weeks. Still, to hear it from someone else was likely refreshing. He nodded, before standing from his seat on a log. I stood with him.

I expected a stern glare or a harsh word or something. I didn't expect his outstretched hand.

"It's been years, Gimult. I've forgiven you for abandoning us. I can forgive you for this. Despite our conversation, I _am_ happy to see you again."

I grunted. "It's not like I was going anywhere. You could have visited me at any time."

Flint chuckled. "I suppose. I guess I was just as stubborn."

We both laughed at that. I took his hand, and we shook. It was a firm handshake, and for once I could find nothing to fault him on in it.

Little Flint was growing up.

"Flint," I said. "I think you'll be fine."

"You know…" the man in front of me said. "I think so too."

XxX

Things then proceeded much the same as the anime. When Ash went to challenge (and lose) to Brock for the first time, however, Flint went with him. I didn't tag along, but Flint told me all about it later.

Like I said, they were all overjoyed to see him.

"There's a fullness in that embrace that I can't explain," the Rock Pillar said around booming laughs. "I feel so recharged! How did I ever leave that behind?"

"Money," I answered. I took a swig of my beer. The bar we were in was rather lackluster compared to my own, but it was good enough. "That's the thing that it always comes down to, isn't it? Marissa even went to work for Giovanni of all peop—"

"Marissa's working for Giovanni?" Flint's eyes hardened as he looked at me. "That scary bitch is working for _that_ scary asshole?"

He then shuddered, and I had to wonder if those two traumatized the poor boy in some way.

"Well, I've never needed an excuse to stay away from Viridian before, but now that I know that both Marissa _and_ Giovanni are sharing the same fifty square miles, I can avoid it like the plague."

"They aren't that bad."

"To _you_," the man said around swigs of his ale. "You could look down a Legendary and not flinch. To anyone else, those two are the worst two Trainers to face outside the Champion." He took another swig. "And you, of course."

I chuckled. We continued to drink our liquor.

Then I remembered something.

"Hey, Flint, I need you to do me a favor…"

XxX

"And… are you sure that this will work?" Ash asked. His Pikachu looked at the water wheel just as confused.

"Honestly, kid? I have no fucking idea. Even supercharging an Electivire shouldn't make its electric attacks any more powerful, but this info has come from someone much crazier than me."

Ash looked at the man, somehow even more confused. "And you expect me to trust you on the words of a crazy man?"

Flint sighed. It was a deep thing. "Yes. Unfortunately, this man's crazy antics work more often than not. Now get on the wheel."


	6. Chapter 6: Mt Moon

_**New chapter, just in time for total mass panic and unrest!**_

_**Hopefully this chapter finds you guys well. I know all of us good children are isolated and alone, and I hope that this update allow you to calm the overwhelming cabin fever. **_

_**If not, feel free to reach out. **_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 6:

Mt. Moon

Did I ever mention how much of a lifesaver Brock Coal was? I hadn't appreciated him as a child, when I watched the Pokémon anime for the first time. He was helpful, and a great cook, but he was always an auxiliary character to Ash.

For adult me, who had to follow Ash around like a doting mother hen, Brock was the best person ever. He kept his younger traveling compatriots in line and kept them from straying too far whenever tempers frayed and their attention to the road wavered.

I even saw him scolding them. I don't think I ever saw that in the anime. I guess it was cut out to make it more palatable for kids. Still, Brock tried to teach his two juniors about the necessity of rationing food and staying on path. From the looks of things, they weren't listening very well. From my memory of the anime, they weren't going to heed the boy's advice even if they had been.

Brock shared the same heavy sigh that I did as he corralled them into Mt. Moon. I walked to the mouth of the cave and stopped. The opening into the dark tunnels that spanned the infamous mountain stretched before me like the maw of some great beast. Inside I could hear the telltale screeching of Zubats and Golbats that to this day haunted my most sinister of nightmares.

I took a deep breath and smiled.

It was nice being home.

XxX

My eyes adjusted rather quickly as I walked through the caverns, not that I needed it. The many craggy hallways and caverns were embedded in my mind. An instinctual map popped into my head as I ducked into alcoves that I knew were there, even if I couldn't identify them with my eyes. Ahead of me I could tell that Ash and gang were having a tough time. They would meet a scientist soon, and that scientist would lead them to the top of the mountain where a tribe of Clefairy and Nido-family nest.

For them, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime even that they would never truly understand the gravity of until they start to encounter the Legendaries. For me, it was a reunion that I was not looking forward to.

I wouldn't be able to follow them any further. The tunnels narrowed ahead, and to follow them would be to reveal myself. While I intended to make myself known eventually, I had no intention of exposing myself so soon.

So instead, I took a sharp right. I had to inch slowly through a crack in the wall that was nearly invisible to anyone not looking for it, but I managed to make it. I made it not three steps into the cavern before the light of a Pokéball lit the room.

Mimey emerged, and his eyes glowed a frosty blue before he was even fully formed. A Barrier burst into existence, and a craggy arm that could sink a battleship was kept at bay from hitting my relatively fragile skull.

"Jasper," I said. The Golem snarled. His teeth, as long as my face, glistened with saliva. Only Mimey's shield kept me from being gored. "I'm happy to see that you're doing well."

Jasper roared, and this action shook the very confines of the room as he exerted his will on the element of Earth. The cavern, and surely the whole mountain, quaked under the strain that the absolutely ancient Pokémon exerted on its surroundings, but I honestly couldn't care less. It couldn't break through Mimey's barrier, and unless it tore down the entire mountain around us it never would.

I wasn't sure whether or not Jasper could do such a thing. It likely could, but it probably wouldn't. Doing so would hurt it more than it would hurt me. While Jasper himself would survive, its many Geodude would be hurt.

I smirked, and it was the most shit-eating grin I'd ever achieved. I walked past it, waving my hand in a way that I knew would annoy him.

"I'll see you around, Jasper," I said. He growled, but a look from Mimey silenced him. We made our way past him into the back of the cavern, and I had to duck down to squeeze into yet another crack that was once more than big enough to accommodate me.

"I'll be back," I told Mimey. The Psychic type nodded. This wouldn't be the first time that I brought him here. He much preferred to remain away from where I was going.

The other side of the crack was small and dark. This shouldn't have been much of a change from the rest of the small, dark, caves of Mt. Moon, but something about this cavern specifically felt darker. Logically, I knew that there was nothing different about this part, but because I knew what was in here, I always felt like it was much harder to see.

I knelt, one knee touching the ground and a fist planted to the floor. I bowed my head in reverence as I spoke. "Greetings, Roland. I have returned."

The old Absol raised its head, but the only indication I had of such was the pair of scarlet eyes that cut through the empty blackness. Not even the red of its horns or the white of its fur stood out in the depths of this place.

Roland barked, but it was a far cry from the strong, confident bark that it had in my youth. Now it sounded more of a growl than anything, if that, and it hurt me to hear it as such.

Still, I had to respond. "I have been well. Things have been easy. I have settled in a town and lived peacefully."

Roland barked again. I could hear the craggy earth beneath him shift, and I could tell by the scratching of claws on rock that he was attempting to move. There was scrambling, a lot of it, but the old Dark-type managed to get to his feet.

He made it maybe three steps before falling. I was en route to him before he reached the ground. When I was a child, such weight would be enough to bowl me over. Now, he was almost frighteningly light.

"Roland," I said. I tried to keep my voice as gentle as possible. "Please, take it easy. Haven't you always told me to live a life of leisure? Perhaps it is time for you to do the same."

The Absol huffed, the air sounding so much kinder than it did in the past. Perhaps it was the age that softened the usually violent and reprimanding tone. Or perhaps it was the fact that I towered over the once intimidating beast. Either way, the hound acquiesced to my veiled demand and allowed me to help it back to its seat.

I sat on the ground after lowering him, then waited. It took a few seconds of heavy breathing, but the ancient Absol finally relaxed.

"Absol," he said, before letting his scarlet eyes glow. I felt his Dark typing invade my mind but letting in energy of the mental arts was never something hard for me.

"_Your Psychic is trying to probe,_" he said. Of course, it wasn't said in words, but rather feeling. Dark types tended to deal more in emotion than actual words when communicating, but if you spent enough time around them you could intuit what they mean.

"If Mimey wanted to break in here, he would be in here. You're strong, Roland, but Mimey has faced down much stronger."

He didn't appear to like that. He huffed, but I knew that he understood that I was telling the truth. If Mimey wanted, he could simply overpower the Dark type energy suffusing the room.

"_What brings you back here, Gimult?_" he asked, and to this I had to hesitate. "_I was under the impression that you finished adventuring_."

His eyes then shifted off to a corner. In it laid mementos of my previous journey. A badge case, some trophies, all things that held nothing but sentimental value.

"I… am…" I tried to respond. "But something has forced my hand. There's this kid, you see. He's someone of great importance."

The scarlet eyes widened. "_Important enough for you to go back on a word that you swore on an Absol?_"

I winced. I had done that, hadn't I?

"Yes, Roland. Important enough to go against even that."

Personally, I held no such stock in that old superstition, and neither did Roland. There was an old wives' tale that if you swore an oath on an Absol, that breaking it would result in all the misfortune that Absol could bring. Having grown up with one, I knew that it was horseshit. Absols were bringers of misfortune in the same ways that Meowths granted luck. It was all circumstantial and stupid.

Still, there was no greater way to prove my seriousness to my group than to do just that. To do it at all, however, was extremely embarrassing to us both. Going back on that word would be spitting in the face of all we had to endure.

"_What makes this boy of yours so important?_" Roland asked. His claws scratched at the bed of stone that he made into his bed.

It took me a few seconds to answer, and by the time that I did, a tense silence had come over us. "Roland, he's… His name is Ash Ketchum, and he's the Chosen One."

We then sat in silence for a few seconds more. Those seconds stretched into minutes, and then an almost eternity as I kept my eyes on the Pokémon that raised me.

When he finally spoke, I could hear the incredulity in his voice. "_The Chosen One? What does that even mean?_"

And it was then that I remembered that the term "Chosen One" was limited only to the prophecy of the Trio Islands. I opened my mouth to explain it, then found that explaining Ash's importance to the world was so immensely hard to do that trying to convey it would likely take days. Days that I didn't have. So I simplified it in the easiest way I could.

"He's going to go visit the Elder Clefairy."

I could see Roland's eyes widen, and then return to normal. I could hear the scratchy sound of him grooming himself. "_Well, that takes care of that. No humans could ever approach those blowhards without being vaporized. Looks like this second adventure of yours didn't last as long as your first?_"

I shrugged. "He's going to survive."

Roland stared at me. His gaze was intense as he stared into my soul for any sign of trickery. When he saw the honesty, he scoffed. "_I didn't take you to be naïve. I don't know what convinced you of this boy's legitimacy, but he is nothing special_."

I chuckled. The old Absol was stubborn, if nothing else. There was no convincing him if he was adamant about something. The only thing I could do in times like these was make him see it for himself.

I held out my hand. Roland rarely ever left his cave since he became crippled. I figured that it would be a nice chance for him to get some fresh air, as well as prove a point.

The old Absol hesitated. He sniffed at my hand, before struggling to his feet.

"Fine, I needed to get out, anyway."

XxX

I said it before, and I'll say it again: my Mimey is amazing. His teleport, which usually shouldn't work on Dark types, effortlessly carried not only he and I, but Roland to the mouth of the cave overlooking the city of Cerulean. We waited there, sitting on the grassy knoll just above the path.

"_It is so refreshing to feel the dew of the grass once more_," Roland murmured. He rested on his haunches; his tired old head held high for once. Now out in the dimming sunlight, I could see the faded red of his horn and claws. For all his wisdom and power, Roland had yet another thing special about him: he was a shiny. "_The cave is dank, but it's an unpleasant wetness. I can never get over the feeling of fresh droplets between my claws, or the smell of fresh grass._"

I chuckled, knowing well of what he was talking about. The caves of Mt. Moon were comfortable, but it was no sanctuary to anything that wasn't either a Rock type or a Zubat. The instant I had the chance to live outside the cave, I took it. With a telltale lack of finesse, I pulled a handful of the greenery from the ground before sitting cross-legged on the ground myself. Roland looked less than pleased with my inelegance, but Mimey looked accustomed.

"Nature sure is amazing," I said. I held the grass to my nose. _Fresh_ is one way of describing it, but that doesn't seem to encapsulate the smell well enough. For me, it smelled of life and freedom. Of calm, balmy afternoons and carefree midsummer evenings. It smelled like fresh rain and new beginnings.

Apt, all things considered.

Roland seemed to agree. He closed tired red eyes and took in so much of the fresh air that his chest expanded. Following his lead, I did the same, and from the corner of my eyes I saw Mimey enjoy it as well. We sat there, enjoying both the breeze and the silence until the sun had almost completely disappeared from the horizon.

"Nature is amazing," I repeated. I peeked over to Roland to see him with his eyes still closed. I took another breath before continuing. "But so is science. Technology has come a long way, and it isn't too late for us to—"

"No," he said. He didn't bother turning to me. He didn't even bother opening his eyes. He just sat there, serene as a stone as the wind rustled his fur.

"But, Roland, it's not even hard. It wouldn't even have to be permanently! I could catch you for not even a day and we could—"

"It's not about being captured. I couldn't be made subservient to my own son. Especially not when I raised him so well."

"Then why?" I asked, and I would be the first to admit that my voice cracked. "We can heal this disease! You don't have to be sick anymore! A Nurse Joy can start working on you in the morning and have you fixed before lunch. If you want, I can slip her a little extra and we can get your paw straightened and—"

Roland twitched, and for a second he wasn't an infirm old Pokémon anymore. I instinctively tensed as the legendary dark hound of Mt. Moon emerged once again from the frail old body that it had become. Mimey tensed, and I saw the rainbow of Miracle Eye flash in his own before I waved him down. The Boy erupted from his ball, tense and fluffed up, but also stood down when I ordered him.

"Why," I asked. I stared the still very much dangerous Pokémon in his eyes as I did so. I wasn't a scared child anymore. I wouldn't quail under Roland's gaze. "Is it pride? You yourself told me that pride should never come before good health."

"_It isn't pride_," he said.

"Then **why**," and a bit of my anger creeped into my voice. Roland was not impressed.

"_If I've told you once, I've told you a million times. Nature isn't meant to be trifled with. Doing unnatural causes unnatural and Humanity has dappled too much in tinkering with the natural world. It is because of this that the Legends do not commune with your kind any longer_."

"But they do! I've seen so many of them in my journey! The Storm's End, the Beast of the Sea, the North Wind! I've met them all!"

"_You've chased them all_," Roland corrected. "_And they've responded to your spirit. You are a remarkable boy, Gimult. A brash and foolish one, but a remarkable one, nonetheless. I saw the same thing in your soul that the Legends likely did, and the Great Ones likely felt the need to interact with you_." The old Absol closed its eyes once more. "_But they will not choose to reveal themselves to just anyone. Even the Titan of Flame won't return, no matter how many festivals you hold in her honor_."

I tried not to think of Moltres, or the last conversation I had with the legendary that embodied Fire. It was a lesser known tradition, but the annual League Championships was held in celebration of her. In the old days she graced us with her presence every time.

She hadn't been seen in over a century. Not until me.

"_You and your kind have broken the laws of the natural world, and you will eventually reap the fruits of your transgressions. I will certainly not follow_."

I grit my teeth as my nails embedded indents in my palms. "Then why don't you stop us?"

"_Many of us have tried. Humans have proven resourceful_." Roland then shook his head. "_Besides, you still remain mostly in harmony with the Pokémon of this world. You don't harm too much. Still, I would rather not go against nature. Gimult…_"

He looked at me once more, and for once I truly looked back. In his eyes I saw, not sadness or emptiness, but a content kind of fulfillment. It was, in a way, both humbling and saddening.

"… _I am fine with my life, Gimult. Sometimes things don't need to be changed or controlled. Sometimes, things just need to be allowed to play out_."

I nodded, but he wasn't finished.

"_If this boy is as important as you are making him seem, then he surely doesn't need your help, does he?_"

I turned to him, dissent ready on the tip of my tongue, but I had his words to take in. _Did_ Ash truly need me? I surely wasn't there in the anime, and the kid got along just fine. Maybe…maybe I could leave him to the natural course of things.

But then I remembered that, for all the things that made this world similar to the anime, there was so much more that didn't. We never went into the finer workings of the League, or the Gym Leaders in the anime, but they were definitely not as brutal as they are in reality.

I shook my head.

"You wouldn't understand, Roland, this boy needs help. I can't leave him to fate."

"_But if he is truly as fated as you say, then he is destined to succeed. I don't see why he would need you_."

"Perhaps Destiny took my meddling into account?"

"_Well, then bollocks to that. I never believed much in the predetermined anyway_."

Hearing those words from an Absol of all things, much less a paragon of its kind, was jarring.

"_I say, that even if Destiny accounts for you, that you shouldn't have to account for Destiny. If you are supposed to be helping, then you will when you're needed_."

In my heart, I knew he was right. Still, I couldn't help the feeling.

"_Today isn't the day to think about it, though. Perhaps we should just enjoy the evening together, for old times' sake?_"

I chuckled. It was a lighthearted thing. I felt like some of my stress floated away. "Sure. It would be nice to finally—"

Mimey tensed. A Psychic shield of many colors came up, shielding us from any sort of detection. A burst of light appeared near the front of the cave, and our trio of children came tumbling out from the Elder Clefairy's Metronome induced Teleport.

"Oh, there they are. I told you that they'd…"

I turned to Roland to see him deathly still. His eyes were trained on Ash and didn't budge even a little.

"_Im…impossible. How_?"

He stared at the boy until he was out of sight and well on his way to the Cerulean City. Even after he was long gone, Roland stared at the place where he was last seen.

When he finally turned to me, he was a shaking mess. "_Gimult_."

I'll be honest. I was thoroughly freaked out. "Yes?"

"_You follow that boy. You follow him and never let him out of your sight._"

I had to double take. "Excuse me?"

"_Gimult, if you never listen to a word I say from here on, and disregard everything I've ever said, listen to me now. Obey my next words as law_."

I nodded dumbly. There was nothing else to do.

"_Forget destiny. Forget fate. Forget anything you have ever known as reasonable or right. That… thing… that you're following… It is no boy. It is a walking natural disaster, and the fate of the world is decided in every step he takes. You will follow that boy, and you will mitigate any damage he might do to the world around him_."

The seriousness in Roland's voice takes me aback. I hesitate before talking. "I mean, sure, he's a walking time bomb, but I don't think—"

"_Gimult, listen to me. I have lived through volcanos triggering earthquakes that cause tsunamis, and I have never felt as shaken as I have felt from simply watching that boy breathe. He shouldn't be allowed to live, let alone walk around. Honestly, I don't understand how any Pokémon get within speaking distance of the child_."

I wanted to retort, but that sounded about right.

"_Gimult, I want you to promise me that you won't let that kid alone_."

"I mean, the whole purpose of my journey was to follow him anyway."

Roland nodded, as if he had somehow convinced me anyway. He went into his own world for a bit, and I was inclined to let him. We sat there on the grassy knoll for a few minutes more, before he barked.

On cue, Jasper came rumbling out of the mountain. The old Golem glared at me, but I couldn't care less.

"_Oh calm down, Jasper. I was in good hands_."

Jasper didn't seem to mind the words. He growled at me, then Mimey, before gingerly picking up Roland. He snarled at Mimey one last time— an action that my starter didn't even care to register— before turning and heading back to the caves of Mt. Moon.

"_Oh, and Gimult? I know that you have a mission, and a very important one at that, but don't forget to relax. Even while busy, always remember to take time to relax. Understand?_"

I chuckled, before nodding. "Of course, Roland. I'll come by again before I return home."

Roland shook his head. "This will always be your home, boy." And then he disappeared into the gloom of the caverns that were somehow darker than even the pitch of night.

I turned to the stars. My hand found its way to the Boy. He snuggled into the scratch and mewled as I pet him. He hadn't done that since I hatched him.

"He didn't seem to be doing very well, did he?" I asked. It was a rhetorical question. I didn't expect it to be answered, and neither of my Pokémon answered it.

We all knew the answer. From the looks of it, Mt. Moon wouldn't be my home for much longer.


	7. Chapter 7: Cerulean City

_**This chapter turned out to be far longer than I expected it to be. **_

_**So this is gonna be a two part. **_

_**Expect the other one in about a week or so. **_

_**Until then, stay safe, lovelies. **_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 7:

Cerulean City

I don't think that I'd ever liked the illustrious City of Water. It was a rather large area, and the cornerstone of tourism for the entire region. Water, clear and nearly sparkling, flowed through every street and along every canal. Water Pokémon, from the humble Poliwag to the rare Buizel, floated lazily along the subtle waves and coasted through the rivers that ran along the edges. Bright lights illuminated the streets at night, but their main focus was to show the dark streams that ran like rivers of pure crystal, even at night.

For most, it was a beautiful aquatic dream, handcrafted by the Prince of the Sea itself. Cerulean City was a shining sapphire that highlighted the beauty of the region. Most of the money that came into the region went through either here, or Celadon or Vermillion, and nowhere else.

For me, however?

"Ugh…" I groaned. My feet dragged along the paved concrete sidewalk. The streets were clean and devoid of even the slightest blemish. Trash was absent from even the gutters in the City of Water. "I hate it here."

The Boy growled from his place atop my head. His tiny paws kneaded my scalp beneath my humble mess of hair. I could feel his displeasure as well. This city held no good memories for either of us.

"Don't worry, we won't spend too long here. A day, at most, of torture while the brat gets his badge, then we leave, okay?"

The boy whimpered, and my heart went out for him. I scratched at his head, and he begrudgingly allowed me to.

"Who knows? Maybe we won't even see them."

XxX

By the time we reached the front of the Cerulean Gym the streets had started to awaken. The people had come scrambling out of their homes, and had quickly set up stalls and such. Beautiful, vibrant fruits and an array of sugary sweet smells assaulted our noses as the height of tourism bared its soul. A few snacks and gadgets caught my eye as I waded through the crowds, but I kept an iron will as I ignored them all.

The Boy, however, didn't feel so inclined. I knew that he knew the move **Thief**, but I wasn't aware of its applications outside of battle. Apparently it allowed the little hellion to nab items without anyone, even me, noticing.

"U-boi!" the little dastardly demon cooed. What appeared to be a cinnamon roll hung limply from his mouth. It was half eaten already, and the Boy was quickly working through the other half. I hadn't even felt the ball of fluff move from my head. He was… surprisingly competent.

"Just finish the thing before we step inside," I muttered. He didn't bother to respond, ainstead I felt the creature cackle as it worked through its meal a little faster. I didn't bother walking inside while it did so, the bun was bigger than the Eevee itself. So, instead, I walked to the side. There was a bench just outside the door for when the Gym hosted its occasional shows.

They, of course, did very little to accommodate the tide of people that attended, but it was good enough for me. I sat on weathered old wooden bench and crossed my ankles. I expected a quiet afternoon as I waited.

I, surprisingly, was not disappointed.

I was… too right, actually. I didn't expect to fall asleep, but before I knew it the afternoon sun was setting beyond the horizon. The people were putting away their wares, and the Boy had moved from my head to sit in my lap.

I didn't pay much attention to the little hellion. I turned to my right to see the real culprit of my woes.

"Mimey," I whispered. "Did you put us to sleep again?"

The powerful psychic didn't say anything. It turned to me, then smiled. A smiling Mr. Mime is the stuff of nightmares, but for me, who practically raised it, it was little more than annoying.

"We were fine," I said. My hand instinctually reached to scratch behind the Boy's ears. He chirped, and kicked his feet in response, but didn't rouse from his slumber.

Mr. Mime chuckled. He craned his neck and looked at me. His frosty blue eyes stared at me, then narrowed when he realized that his subtle **Hypnosis** had worn off.

"You can't use that on me again. Not so soon. I'm practically Dark-type myself. I'm surprised it worked on the Boy. He's usually resistant to the mental arts."

Mr. Mime chuckled. He pointed at me.

I shrugged. "I guess you're right. If that's not an indicator of how much we needed that sleep, I don't know what is." I yawned. "Okay, you win. Maybe we did need to sleep. When was the last time we slept?"

Mimey made a face. It was supposed to be intimidating but ended up just being ugly.

"Giovanni's?" I asked. "That was… a week ago!"

Mimey chuckled. I just rubbed at my head.

"Okay, maybe we are falling back into bad habits," I said. I rubbed at my head again and sighed. "Thank you for looking out for me, as usual."

Mimey didn't say anything. He just nodded, then looked back over the horizon. The people were closing their stalls, and I was a little surprised that the last I saw of them, was of them opening. If Mimey saw fit to keep us under for so long, then it was likely that we were running on fumes.

Leave it to him to be the only one to notice.

"I think we're okay now, Mimey. I promise that we'll sleep at least once every two days from now on."

Mimey growled, a rare action for the normally expressionless Psychic. His eyes glowed even brighter, and I could feel his powers start to sway my mind. An acute feeling of nausea pinged on the edge of my mind, and I almost swayed under what was likely his attempts at being gentle.

"Okay, okay. We'll sleep every night." I waved my hands to try to placate him. For a bit it didn't work, but after a while he relented. His shining blue eyes eventually dimmed to their faded glow, before fading completely. The drowsiness that he was inducing finally faded, and it was like a cloth was lifted from my mind.

Eevee, of course, was the first to react. He rose from his sleep on my lap and stretched its legs out. He then immediately turned and barked at Mimey. The Psychic chuckled and raised a **Barrier**, but the Boy was too used to his antics. He charged Dark-type energy into his jaws and tore into it. It was a good-hearted battle of wills, but still something I didn't really want to be a part of. I rose from the bench and moved to stretch my legs.

If I could, I would spend the rest of my days here. Relaxing with my two best buddies was a pastime I could never give up. I closed my eyes, and I could hear the slowly quieting hustle of the city. The cries of Hoothoot and Ratatta poked out periodically through the din of automobiles and machinery, and I felt comforted by the serenity that slowly bore its nature from the tourist city of Kanto.

Of course, that's when disaster struck.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Gimmy," a familiar and unsettling voice said. My hair stood on end and my legs went weak. "I never expected to see you again."

I turned my eyes to my Pokémon, only to see the both of them frozen as well. My Boy looked as if he would rather be anywhere else, while Mimey's eyes started to glow that telltale blue that showed he was preparing a psychic move. Likely **Teleport**, if I knew the finicky bastard.

"H-Hey, Daisy," I stammered. I tried to keep my fear in check, but I don't think it mattered much to one off the Sensational Sisters. They could likely smell fear better than their Sharpedo could smell blood in the water. "How are you doing? What're you doing here?"

"I should be asking _you_ that," the woman drawled. Her golden-brown hair practically bounced as she swished it aside. Her eyes, dark brown and calculated, measured me up from my head to my feet. She looked at my travel garb, little more than old rags, and sneered. "Seems like you didn't come here for the fashion."

"I'm just passing through," I said. I tried as hard as I could to keep the trepidation out of my voice. I doubt that I did a very good job. Daisy's lips quirked upward in that very subtle way of hers to show her vindictive pleasure at how uncomfortable she made someone. Usually, it was her overwhelming beauty that stunned people into submission. My fear was something far more primal. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm done here. So I'll just be on my way and—"

And like that my arm was snagged. If one were to look at the frames of any of the Sensational Sisters of Cerulean, one would think they were dainty twigs that could be blown away by a sufficient breeze. They were thin creatures who could fit in the tiniest of bathing suits, after all. This assumption was incorrect. Each of the Sisters, while slacking in their Gym Leader roles, were nothing short of Elite-level fighters when they got serious. To reach that level, they needed to train with their Pokémon, and as such spent several hours a day swimming.

The muscles built from such an intensive routine was nothing short of impressive, and I found myself being dragged along like a discarded doll that was found again.

"We can't have you running away again," the Water Elite said in a singsong voice. Her deft fingers squeezed into my bicep. I won't lie and say it didn't hurt. "I'm sure my sisters would love to see you again. Especially Lily."

And just like that I was whisked away. I looked towards my Pokémon for assistance, only to see the traitorous duo following along. They at least had the decency to look bashful, their eyes averted to the ground as they kept pace with the pushy Sister.

I sighed, before steeling my resolve. The doors to the Cerulean Gym opened, and a mounting dread crawled down my spine.

XxX

The first thing I noticed upon stepping foot in the Gym was the silence. There was a secretary in front that quietly worked on a mountain of paperwork, likely tickets for the next show, but after passing her there was virtually no sound at all. Our footsteps echoed loudly around the large room that made up the base arena of the Gym, and nothing save the gentle lapping of the water against the side of the pool competed for airspace.

"It's… very similar to the last time I was here." And indeed, it was. There was a large pool situated in the center of the blue-tiled floor, and a diving board towered over it. Plastic circular "islands" floated lazily in water, each a different size and in some cases a different thickness. The air conditioning was powerful, and already I could feel the goosebumps start to gather on my arms. I didn't enjoy it, but the partially Ice-type Pokémon probably did.

"Hmm?" Daisy mused. She barely seemed to acknowledge my words as she pulled me forward. She didn't even bother to turn to me as she continued onwards, her face set in some sort of grim purpose. "Oh, right. I think Misty painted the walls to sky blue or something."

I turned back to the walls and, indeed, they were sky blue. They were eggshell the last I was here.

"Huh," I murmured. "How about that."

The rest of my kidnapping was spent in relative silence as we tapped our way across the tiled floor. I saw Lily's Dewgong pop its head out of the water. It tilted its head as we passed but didn't do anything else. I just assumed that it did not remember me. The large Pokémon was not known for its memory.

We reached the door located at the back of the Gym in almost no time at all. Daisy didn't bother knocking. She twisted the knob and barreled into the room.

"Ladies! I'm home!" Daisy sang. The communal break room was as I last remembered: navy blue carpeting, mirrors everywhere, and wide-eyed women in the middle of removing make-up. Violet, bless her soul, was only surprised to see me. Dark blue hair the color of the deepest ocean looked almost black as she regarded me. She took me in for a few seconds before shrugging and turning back to the mirror.

"Little Gimmy has returned to his nest. I can't say that I'm not surprised to see you," she said. An alcoholic wipe was passed over her face. "But I also can't say I'm not tired. I'll be excited tomorrow. Tonight, I'm exhausted."

And that was all I got from her. It was a merciful reaction, all things considered. Lily, however…

"You," she said, and it was equal parts fear and excitement that rooted me in place. The "youngest" of the triplets thundered over, and it was only because Daisy had released me that I was able to dodge.

"Stop moving, you ass!" Lily yelled, but I felt no inclination to listen. I knew from experience growing up with these girls that their punches hurt. I could stare down any amount of _Hyper Beam_ or _Flamethrower_ but I would never relive a strike from a Sensational Sister. "You up and _leave_ the Gym with no warning, no letters, and you expect to be able to just _waltz_ back in here with no punishment? The _nerve_!"

A part of me wanted to argue that I, in fact, did not waltz back in here. I was dragged, rather forcefully, by another. Another part of me knew that logic would fail me right now, so instead I continued to dodge.

"H-Hey, Lil, nice to see you too. I'm… fine?"

Lily's eyes widened, and I could see the vein throbbing in her head. "You're fine? You're _fine_? It's fourteen years too late to tell us that you are _fine_, Gimult!"

"I thought that you would see that I was okay on the television!"

"All I saw on the television was you nearly getting decapitated by a damn Gyrados! We _owned_ Gyrados! You know not to mess with them! And then you go ahead and poke the nest of the _only_ King Gyrados on record? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"We wanted to see if it was real! And we contributed so much to science and—"

From her snarl I could tell that this angle wasn't working. I ducked another swing and tried another approach. One that hadn't failed me all my life.

"It was Marissa's idea!"

I saw Lily stop for what amounted to all of a few seconds. A slight shiver wracked her body before anger flooded her nerves once more.

"If that bitch weren't so damn scary, I would be angry at her too!" Lily yelled, and just like that she was on the offensive again. I had to catch her fist this time and boy did that hurt.

"You know, she really isn't so bad…" I said. In the corner of my eye, I could see Violet shake her head.

"Fourteen years apart and you're still just as bad with women." The 'middle' sister then sighed. She rose from her chair and made her way to the door that I knew led to their personal quarters. "I'm going to take a shower. Turn off the lights when you're done being children."

And then she was gone. Daisy, tongue sticking out, followed her younger sister with an apologetic look on her face. Lily, however…

"Fourteen years of doing nothing but worrying us, and now you're defending that psychopath?" The veins in her forehead looked fit to burst. "_Are you daft?_"

And just like that I found myself a punching bag.

XxX

It took a few hours, but I finally managed to calm the youngest sister down. We now sat atop the roof of the gym, both of us on the edge of beach chairs as we stared out over the city. Cerulean, while bustled and congested in the morning, was nothing short of awe-inspiring at night. The myriad of lights that dotted even the night life looked akin to a rainbow hued night sky, resplendent with stars.

I turned to Lily, and she seemed just as mesmerized by the scene as I was. While I had reason for it —I hadn't been back here in a long time — Lily could likely take in this sight as often as she wanted. That she still had this much awe spoke of just how much she loved this city.

"You could still evolve him, you know," she said. Her deft fingers combed through the Boy's fur, lulling him to a sleep deep enough to not hear her suggesting what was almost sacrilege to the tiny thing. "He's a bit old, but he's still in his prime. We have some extra Water Stones, and we wouldn't mind sparing one for you."

I shook my head. The memories of countless arguments floated through my mind. My Boy was very against evolution, even as an infant. For a bit he wanted to be an Espeon, but that dream quickly died.

"I think I'll pass on that one," I said. I chuckled. "If you look in his mane, you'll see why."

Lily nodded, before ruffling around in the ruff of white fur around his neck. The Boy was a healthy young thing, so she had to look for quite a bit to get through the most of it. When she finally did, her eyes widened, and she pulled out a gray stone from the fur.

"Is this… an Everstone?" she asked. She rolled the shard of rock between her fingers. When she turned it a certain way, a bit of white light could be seen shining through.

"His twentieth one, I believe. He's been going through them a lot faster these days, though he's slowed down a bit since we stopped our journey."

"Twentieth?" Lily said, her voice coming out as a gasp. "Just how strong is he?"

"Elite level, easily, though he's gotten a little slower since we retired." I reached over to rub at his head. The little hellion recognized my touch and leaned into it as if he was entitled the scritches.

"Then he's a strong little one. He would be a monster if he evolved."

"He's a monster now," I said. "And it means more to him for him to stay as he is. I value that for him."

We then let a silence fall over us. For a while, there was nothing but the gentle rumbles of my contented Eevee. There was this… something in the air. I couldn't quite explain it, but there was this tension that hung over us like a cloud of fog.

It was Lily that broke it. "Fourteen years. Fourteen years with no direct contact. I knew you were raised by Pokémon, but I never took you for an idiot."

I winced. There was no anger in her voice. No accusations or venom of any kind. Somehow, that made it worse. "I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong."

"You lived with us for four years. Didn't you think that we'd be worried about you?"

"For some reason, the thought never crossed my mind."

Lily sighed, and I could see the melancholic expression on her face even in the darkness of the night. Her head dipped, and the slight frown she wore could be felt in the deepest part of my soul.

"You know, I kind of knew that. I knew that you didn't just forget us. I knew that you didn't abandon us." She turned to me, and I could see her dark brown eyes glisten with the tears that threatened to overflow from them. "But… it was very hard. I could barely come to terms with it. That deep down you still loved us. That you didn't hate us."

My eyebrow raised. I looked at her, confusion evident on my face. "Hate you? I could never hate you."

"Well, how were we supposed to know that, Gimult?" Lily shook her head. If she intended for her grooming of the Boy to become more aggressive, she didn't show it. Her voice wasn't angry, it didn't rise in tone. It remained this somber, calm timbre. "You sent us maybe three letters your entire journey, and no calls. I was convinced that you didn't even have a phone." She sighed as she averted her eyes away from mine. She stared at her feet as she spoke her next words. "You didn't visit. You didn't even say anything about us during your interviews. You didn't even say bye. What were we supposed to think?"

There was nothing I could say to that. When put that way, I really seemed like quite the jackass. Deep down, I knew that I was keeping really poor contact with them, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that they could have missed me.

"Lily, I'm sor—"

"It's too late for apologies, Gimult." She then chuckled. It was such a brittle, hollow thing. "I'm not looking for it anymore. Once upon a time, I might have fantasized about the day where you returned. I would make you grovel for my forgiveness at the horn of my Seaking." She shook her head once more. "But that was years ago. Now, it just feels all meaningless."

I nodded along. Even saying it felt plastic. Still…

"I mean it, however little that means. I didn't intend to make you feel this way."

"But you did intend to go out and journey. If given the option again, if you could go back in time and do it all over again, would you have changed anything?"

I didn't say anything. That silence was telling. Nevermind that I probably _could_ do such a thing.

Lily laughed. It was a short, emotionless thing. "I thought so. You've always been so driven, but so, so shortsighted. You could take charge of any situation you're dropped in, but if asked about it ahead of time you would be caught flat-footed."

I laughed too, but it was more to fill the silence than for any kind of mirth. There was so much I wanted to say, but when I opened my mouth, I found my mind blank. Luckily Lily had more than enough to fill the silence.

"Do you want to know the first time that we saw you on tv?" she said. She rolled the Boy's Everstone between her fingers. "It was that incident in Fuchsia. The one with the Safari Zone?"

It was here that I had the decency to blush. That wasn't a particularly fond memory for me. Priceless memories and long-lasting partners aside, it was still one of my more idiotic ideas.

"Until then, we had no idea whether or not you were dead. You had just… disappeared. One day you were laughing with us in the kitchen, and the next, gone. When we saw that you had stolen a Dratini from the Safari Zone from right under Koga's nose? We didn't know whether to scream, laugh, or cry."

She said the words as if they were a bitter memory. Perhaps they were, to her.

"That was… actually my idea," I said. A wry smile gifted my face. "Koga wouldn't let me in no matter how much I begged, and there was no way a poor homeless kid was both getting a ticket into Johto and an audience with the Blackthorn Clan."

"What I've always wanted to know was how you knew that there was a family of Dratini there." Lily then giggled in that way she did when we were younger. I'll be honest, it was refreshing to see that at least something about her was the same as I remembered. A part of me wondered if she was thinking the same thing. "Dratini never nested anywhere outside of the mountains around Blackthorn. How did you know? Did you stumble across it?"

No, I had known about them since I played Pokemon Yellow religiously. It was my first game and a friend tipped me off about the lake with the tiny dragons in it behind the Safari Owner's house.

"Yes," I said. I folded my hands, letting my fingers interlock as I lied to someone who was about as close to me as one could get. The only ones closer were my adventuring buddies. "Kingy tangled my feet as I stumbled through the marshlands."

"That's what you named him?" Lily said, an emotion finally breaking through the melancholy. A wide, genuine smile graced her face. "Right. I remember now. That's what you yelled when you challenged—"

I raised a hand. Her musings stopped in their tracks. "I'd rather not think about that time. It's not the best idea I'd ever had."

She raised an eyebrow. "Challenging the Champion is a point of shame for you, but not visiting your family for almost a decade and a half is water off your back?"

"I never said I wasn't ashamed of that."

"Well, you certainly have never said that you _were_." She then pouted. "And you didn't even think to come to us for one of your qualifying badges. You might have been able to skip the preliminaries if you did! Imagine the clout if you had the Cascade Badge!"

I rolled my eyes. "I skipped a bunch of big Gyms. Do you think I challenged Surge? I'm not an idiot."

"But you challenged Giovanni," she said, and I had to admit, she had me there. "If you skipped us for the difficulty, you chose the worst badge to get to prove it to us."

"Giovanni was my last badge."

"_We_ could have been your last badge."

"I couldn't—"

"Couldn't _what_?"

Silence. The Boy mewled as Lily continued to pet him. After a few minutes of nothing, she turned her attention to him fully.

"Exactly," she said.

I looked to the stars.


	8. Chapter 8: Cascade Badge

**_This is totally a week later. _**

_**I'll be honest, this part is hard to write for me. **_

_**I've never been good with expressing emotions. I'm closer to Violet than Daisy in that regard. **_

_**Please let me know how this one turned out?**_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 8:

Cascade Badge

There was a certain kind of nostalgia that came about from waking up in my old bedroom. The light streamed in from the translucent blue curtains, bathing the room in a baby blue that made me feel as if I were underwater. Off in the corner I could see my dresser, a mahogany square of furniture that seemed smaller since the last time I was here. Next to it was a closet, likely full of clothes that couldn't fit me anymore, and on the other side of the room sat the entrance to my bathroom.

And… that's it. I didn't keep a lot of personal things when I was living with the Sensational Sisters. I guess that I had always planned to leave, thus I saw no reason in getting anything that I would need to leave behind.

Still, it was a comfortable feeling. The overpowered air conditioning that was present on the Gym floor didn't seem to reach the second floor, allowing the room to become nice and toasty. Comfortable memories of carefree days just lying around and doing nothing came to the forefront, and for a second, I almost felt myself drift off again.

I turned on my bed to get more comfortable, as one tends to do, but the covers refused to move with me. I turned back to find the source of my problems, only to find a lump under my covers.

A lump with a suspiciously pink head of hair.

Oh. Figures.

I reached under the covers and kneaded at her back. Lily grumbled, but she seemed to recognize my prodding. She rolled, in by taking some of the covers with her, but allowed me to sneak under them as well. I turned around, resting our backs against one another, before falling asleep once more.

XxX

The next time I woke up was to Lily's dark brown eyes. Her hair was frazzled and wild, and her mouth was set into a grimace, but she looked otherwise fine.

"You're still here," she said, her voice barely a whisper. Her fingers were wrapped around my wrist like a vice, and she seemed almost afraid to let it go.

"Yeah," I said. "I wasn't planning on going anywhere. I told you this, didn't I?"

Lily shrugged. She rose from the bed, letting the covers fall from her shoulders. Her pink camisole had ridden up, showing some of her midriff, and the left strap had fallen from her shoulder. Her eyes were groggy, and half shut, but she still had the ability to glare.

"One can't be too careful with you," she said. "I'm afraid that if I leave you alone for too long, you'll go and challenge Moltres or something."

I felt Mimey's amusement ring through my head through our emphatic link. I tried to ignore it.

"Nope, I'm still here," I said, rising as well. I didn't have pajamas, never had much use for them, so my black t-shirt and underwear was nowhere near as elegant as Lily's silk sleepwear.

Lily didn't say anything. She just stared at me with half-lidded eyes before giving me a wry smile. "So you are."

Our morning banter didn't get much farther before the door flew open. Our eyes flew to the intruder, only to relax once we saw who it was.

"Violet," I said.

"Violet," Lily parroted.

"Gimmy," the blue-haired sister said. "Lily."

The three of us stared at each other, nonchalance and comfortability that was long ingrained in us coming back to the forefront. I felt the wry grin before I saw it, and I almost anticipated the teasing remark before it was said.

"Well," Violet said, her voice singsong. "I always knew I would find you two in bed together."

The middle sister cackled as Lily vaulted over me to chase her. Deadly pillow in hand, the two sisters' screams could be heard down the hall, echoing around the mostly empty building. I waited until I could no longer hear them before turning to Mimey. The small smile on his face was telling of his mood.

"Feels nice to be back here, doesn't it?" I asked. The Psychic shrugged, before sending a general mood of indifference. "I should have come back earlier, shouldn't I have?"

This time I wasn't answered by Mimey, but rather by The Boy. He had hopped from the carpeted floor and into the bed, before circling a spot on the bed. Once it was comfortable, he plopped down, surrounding himself in layers of cover.

Then he barked and judging from Mimey's laugh I could tell that he had answered a "yes."

I chuckled, before lying back on the bed. I reached to scratch at the Boy's ears, an action he allowed, before looking at Mimey. He had a clump of pillows and sheets that he arranged for himself that he preferred to any bed. His eyes glowed blue, and I got an entire hour of conversation in a few seconds.

"Yeah," I said. "I am an idiot."

XxX

The roar wasn't foreign to me. I wasn't a stranger to the roar of a Gyrados, and I passed the leviathan by as it rose from the depths of the Cerulean City aquatic preserve. The room itself was an expansive and damp Water Pokémon paradise. Located under the Gym itself, the four pools went even further into the foundation, providing ample room for the various large Water types to exert themselves.

"It's nice to see you again, too, Maurice," I said. The absolutely gargantuan beast loomed over me. Only one of its fangs were large enough to match my entire body, and I knew this because said fang was close enough to compare us directly. "Now back off, you're going to get water on my toast."

Maurice whined, and even such an action expelled enough air to almost bowl me over. Still, it listened to me, and after a light cuddle from its whiskers, it pulled back into the pool. It displaced so much water that the waves spilled onto the walking platforms, but it was to be expected. It was the Water Gym. We were expected to get wet.

I made my way to the center of the room. The basement was so monumentally large that it took me a few minutes. Located at the very middle were the Sensational Sisters, alongside someone I hadn't expected to meet.

"You guys need to be more responsible!" one Misty Waterflower screamed. Her balled up fists rested squarely on her hips as she glared down her three uncaring sisters. "Your lackadaisical attitude is bringing down the reputation of our Gym!"

The three sisters, Elites in their own rights, merely sighed as they regarded their sister. Violet hadn't even bothered to look away from her salad, weathering the storm of her younger sister like gentle waves in her pool.

Daisy at least had the decency to respond. With a placating smile on her face she answered. "Please, Mist. It's not like we do this all the time. Today is just special, okay? We don't have time to do any Gym battles, but we also can't just cancel on the ones scheduled. So, we're giving it away to those unlucky few who can't battle us, just for today?"

If her attempt was to pacify the fiery redhead, she failed miserably. If anything, Misty seemed to flare up more, the orange hair atop her head seeming to stand on end.

"You shouldn't be giving away badges on _any _day!" Misty roared, an action that startled all but Violet. "What if the League finds out about this? We could lose the Gym!"

"I highly doubt that," Violet muttered around sips of her tea. "Our actions have left Cerulean as one of the most profitable settlements in the region. To be rid of us would be, not only a horrendous PR move, but an economical nightmare." The bluenette then smirked as she stared her younger sister in the eye. "But I do appreciate your forward thinking. Though flawed, it shows the proper spirit."

Misty sputtered for a second, before averting her eyes. I couldn't blame her. Violet's cold, logical approach to life often made her seem much older and intimidating than she actually was.

"T-thank you," Misty whispered. Then, like a campfire with gas thrown on it, she reignited. She made a show of turning to specifically _not_ Violet as she continued her rampage. "But still, even if we don't lose our place, we need to maintain the image of a strong Gym! Imagine the rumors that will spread once people find out that we gave away a Badge!"

It was here that Lily finally snapped. Knowing the "youngest" triplet as I did, I was surprised that it took this long. "Ugh! Enough with the lecture Mist! We know what we're doing!"

I should mention hat Lily elected to stand here. She towered over her younger sister by a head, and it was obvious who Misty got her mannerisms from. Lily squared her shoulders and holstered her hands on her hips as she glared down her younger sister. If Misty was a talented student, however, Lily was the experienced master.

"We didn't give any of them the qualifying Badges that would get them through the Indigo League preliminaries. The ones we gave out to the few trainers _that accepted_ our offer is little better than the lesser Gym badges. The ones who didn't accept got a rescheduling at their earliest convenience." Lily sucked her teeth as she flipper her hair. She plopped back into her chair with a huff. "We've been doing this since before you were born Mist. Just cause you take it so seriously doesn't mean that we don't."

Misty, once again, recoiled before the might of her sister. She was put on the back foot once more, and this time, since she was shaken so quickly after her first, she was unable to recover.

"B-but…" the poor girl stammered. "I just wanted to know what was so important…"

"It's okay," Daisy said. She stroked Misty's head as she tried to calm her down. "I understand. I would be concerned too. Let's just say that a very important family friend stopped by."

"A family friend?" Misty asked. "I don't remember having someone like that. Was it Auntie Lorelei?"

"No," I said, approaching from behind the tiny aspiring Water elite. I had been following her and Ash for the past week, but I never got close enough to really compare. Misty was tiny. Like, barely up to my chest tiny. I was not a tall man, but damn. Misty was tiny. "It's me. It's nice to finally meet you, Little Waterflower."

The redhead whirled so quickly I could compare it to a _Rapid Spin_. Her glare intensified as she inspected me. The tears that were building in her eyes were practically obliterated as she stared me down.

"And who the hell are you?" she asked. She pointed a tiny finger at me and pouted.

"You may call me Gimult," I said. "No surname. I never bothered with those."

Misty continued to stare me down. Scalding blue eyes seemed to want to dissect me for a solid minute before she turned from me with a huff.

"I don't see the appeal," she said, before stomping off. The four of us watched her go with varying degrees of amusement. She reached the very edge of one of the pools as far from us as possible before diving in.

Yep. Only a Waterflower would dive into a pool with a fully grown Gyrados in it with no hesitation.

Daisy was the first to speak. "Sorry about that, Gimmy. Her panties have been in a knot ever since she got home this morning. She's usually in a bad mood, but something has her especially mad today."

I tilted my head as I sat down. I pretended to think, but something told me that I already knew the answer. "Well, how many people do you have lined up for the Gym challenge today?"

Violet answered. "As of now? None. Didn't you hear? We canceled them all."

I hummed. I turned my attention to a tablet that lay just beyond her plate of sausage and eggs and half-finished toast. It showed the names of Trainers, most likely challengers that were routed for my visit. Most were red, meaning that they were already dealt with, while some were yellow, showing that their times were delayed.

One, however, was green. It was scheduled for later on today and made just this morning. The set Waterflower to battle him wasn't one that was sitting at the table with me, and I knew the name before I actually saw it.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I shrugged as I turned back to my salad. "I suppose you're right. None of _you_ have any challenges today."

As one the Sisters turned their attention to the tablet. They zeroed in on the same thing that I did, and as one their voices rang out in fury.

"PIPSQUEAK!"

XxX

Daisy and Lily were dressing down their younger sister something fierce. It had been two hours already, and yet the three Waterflower Sisters were in no way losing steam.

"I can't _believe_ you would force an argument to try to hide something like this!" Lily screamed. Her thin arms shook as she regarded her defiant sibling. "I _knew_ you were being too shy! Our Misty wouldn't back down from anything!"

Misty just pouted. Her arms were folded as she met Lily's eyes evenly. "Well, it's not _my_ fault that I want to make a good impression for the young Trainers challenging our Gym!"

"You're not even a _Gym Leader_ yet!" Daisy screamed. The happy-go-lucky eldest sister wasn't one to scream, so her voice came out as just slightly louder than normal. For people that knew her, however, it might as well have been said through a megaphone. "You're a trainee. A trainee!"

Whatever was said afterwards was soon drowned out as I had finally grown bored of the fight. I turned to the third sister, Violet, as she worked away at the tablet next to me.

"It is far too late for me to reschedule it now," she said, her normally stoic face set into a grimace. "We are going to have to go through with this challenge, and _Misty_ is the one that is going to have to do it."

Her voice, as silent as a lamb, was somehow heard by all three shouting sisters. Two turned to us in fury, but one wore a smug smile. They quickly turned back to one another, however, and the screaming was back on.

"Enough!" Lily shouted. "I'll just give him a badge. He'll be satisfied with that and we can be on with our day!" The pink-headed sister then stormed off. She was quickly pursued.

"No! He has to earn it!" the youngest shouted. She tore off after her sister, but Lily had already broken into a sprint that easily outpaced her younger counterpart. I felt more than heard Daisy's sigh, before seeing her run off in pursuit.

I was left with only Violet. We walked at a sedate pace to the stairs.

"I know it may not seem like it," she said. "But I really am overjoyed that you're back."

She said it all in the most monotone voice I could imagine. Her eyes were lidded, making her look a little drowsy, but even I could see the small quirk of her lips.

I smiled. I placed a hand on her head and rubbed it. "I know, Violet. Even when we were younger it was hard for you to express yourself. I know that you mean what you say. That's enough for me."

She leaned into my headpat rather easily, especially since we hadn't done it in so long. Her eyes dipped a little lower as she savored the bonding experience, and for a second I was thrust back in time.

Lazy summers spent dangling our feet in the pool. Turbulent winters where all we did was drink hot chocolate while wishing to play in the snow. Long arguments and tender moments, all beginning and ending with a simple head pat.

"I missed you, brother," the middle sister said. Her voice came out as almost a drawl. We had come to a stop at the stairs, and I had to remove my hand from her head if we were to scale them. I found myself surprisingly reluctant to do so.

"I…" I started. I felt myself getting choked up. "I missed you too, Violet."

I removed my hand, and it was as if a spell was broken. Violet snapped back to her default state— languid and bored— as she chugged up the stairs. I made to follow her, but her next words rooted me in place.

"You know, I never doubted you. Not really. You told me once that you would always be here for us. So, I was sure that you would come back."

Her smile broke something in me.

"And here you are. Just like you promised. We say what we mean, don't we brother?"

And with that she chased her siblings up the stairs, leaving me alone in the basement aquarium. My teeth grinded as I held a death grip on the metal railing leading up the stairs. I despaired as I contemplated her words. Had it not been for Ash, would I have ever returned? I would have liked to say yes, but something in me told me otherwise.

"Say what we mean…" I mumbled. It was an admirable trait for Violet to have.

One that I myself didn't deserve.


	9. Chapter 9: The Team

_**This chapter just couldn't seem to come out right. No matter what I did to it, it just seemed to falter and fall through. **_

_**Then I moved. And got a new job. And the whole thing seemed to resolve itself. **_

_**That being said, shoutouts. **_

_**Thank you to GM0127 and NovaWars for your constant appreciation and support. I typically write Naruto stories, and this was more of a fun thing to do on the side while I figure myself out. I really appreciate that you guys appreciate this story so much. I was never sure if I were doing this right. **_

_**On that note, n0mster. Thank you very much for your constructive criticism. I want to make this story as good as possible for not only you, but for fans like GM0127 and NovaWars. Such feedback lets me know how I'm doing with character creation and world building. Please, keep it up, and don't be afraid to let me know when I'm doing dogshit. I really love it when people give nice, constructive help. To answer your reviews as succinctly as possible...**_

_**No, Gimult is not an SI. My name isn't that, nor does he react how I would. I wanted him to be a little too strong because I envisioned him as a character that told the story of my idea of the world of Pokemon without being held down by the things that I planned to include. If you want to know more about how I intended to push the story, please DM me. **_

_**For everyone else, please enjoy this chapter. **_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 9:

The Team

The waves crashed against the side of the pool, making the telltale rippling noise that used to drive me to sleep. Somewhere out on the field, Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower were duking it out. In another life, the Sensational Sisters would be on the sidelines, their trusty pet Seel beside them, all of them equally useless.

That life was not this one. In this life there were three competent and highly motivated Water Masters, and all three of them lounged on the couch of the living room. A large flat-screen tv would play the battle of the two Beginner-level Trainers, and a large, powerful Dewgong would comfort its Trainer as she raged at the screen.

"It's a _Butterfree_," Lily screamed. She had long since risen from her chair. Her body was tense and poised for a fight that she wasn't participating in. "How long ago did he even catch that thing?"

"Records say about a week ago," Violet answered. She swiped at her tablet once more, and the image on it changed from Ash's face to a picture of his Butterfree. "He caught it as a Caterpie, and pushed it through its evolutionary stage all the way to its final form."

"That's… rather impressive," Daisy said. Her voice, forever jovial, did not match the creased eyebrows, or the hawk-like way she kept her eyes on the tv screen. Misty's Staryu was currently being put on the defensive against Ash's Bug-type. "Bug-type Pokemon _are_ known to grow fast, but it is expected to take at least a month. His specimen must have already been close to evolution."

"It's still a _new_ capture, Daisy," Lily growled. Her hand was held outward, gesturing to the offending screen. On it, Ash had lost his Butterfree, but Misty had lost her Staryu. "She shouldn't be having this much trouble with a little Rookie! She _wouldn't_ be having this much trouble if she would just teach her Pokémon as Ice-type attack!"

That… was actually a fair point. "Why… doesn't her Pokémon know any Ice-type moves?" Even in the anime I don't remember her using any.

Lily rolled her eyes. "It's because our dear baby sister is a damn _purist_." The word was said with such sarcastic vitriol that even I felt attacked, and I wasn't one. "She has always had this stupid dream of proving the superiority of Water-types through their own merit. It's something we've been trying to beat out of her to no success."

I turned to the other two sisters. Daisy laughed, but it was a nervous one that didn't even reach her chest. Violet just shrugged. I turned back to Lily.

"But… why? Even Specialists use moves of other types. You practically must. Even Lorelei," and I had to hide the utter disgust in my voice as I said her name, "uses Water-types. Her ace is a Lapras."

"Would you believe us if we told you that her obsession was _because _of Lorelei?" Daisy asked, to which I turned with a raised eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"The twerp wants to prove something to Lorelei, whom she idolizes," Violet answered. I had to turn to her when she answered and wasn't that already I headache. I almost forgot how the Sisters liked to answer for each other. "In her own words, 'since so many Specialists rely on the power of other types, I'm going to bring Water Pokemon to the top on my own,'" Violet said in an obviously nasally voice. "It's so ridiculous."

"Never mind that each of us have either beaten or gone even with the bitch," Lily groaned. I looked around at them. They all nodded.

"I managed a close win on her. Three on three," Daisy said. "If it were her whole team, or even her Lapras, it might have been a loss."

"I managed a tie," Violet muttered. "Her eyes were glued to her tablet. Random words and numbers scrolled by faster than I could follow, but they were probably all taken in by her. "Her Frosslass managed a Destiny Bond on my Politoad. Technically she won, but she called it a tie because she was an Elite Four member."

"I… actually, haven't beaten her," Lily said. Her voice had lowered to a growl, but that did nothing to the fire in her eyes. "But I will. Last we fought, she almost lost. It came down to both of our final Pokémon and her Dewgong was on its last legs!" Her Dewgong slid up to her. It mewled, a sound that was closer to a bark, and she stroked its head around its horn. "Don't worry, Dewy, we will get her next time."

I listened to the Sisters, who then went on to rip into each other in their own ways, and my eyes slid back over to the screen. In all honesty, they had a point. For a Trainer who was raised in a household of Water-type Masters, Misty was surprisingly incompetent.

"It's because she has refused our help. She doesn't want any of her accomplishments attributed to us." Lily rolled her eyes. "She thinks that she would Impress the old hag more that way."

On the screen, I saw Ash's Pidgeotto go toe-to-toe with Misty's Starmie. There was something important about the outcome of this battle, I just couldn't remember what it was.

"I could never comprehend your hatred of Lorelei," Violet mused. Her voice was as monotone as ever, but the slight twinge of her lips indicated the teasing nature of her words. "Is it because she placed you solidly as the weakest of us?"

Lily turned, all fire and rage. Before she could enact her rage, however, an explosion deafened our ears and shook the confines of the building.

"_Prepare for trouble!"_ a voice rang out from the screen.

"_And make it double!_" another cried.

The three Sisters launched to their feet, all anger and indignation. Scuffed and weathered Pokéballs were in their hands before the room stopped shaking, and the playful demeanor of three teasing siblings quickly bled away into the persona of three, military grade government officials. I knew, just from a glance, that they would be able to protect their house and home.

"Gimult!" Daisy yelled. Her voice was as if a command. This was the Trainer that commanded a legion of Water Trainers to defend Kanto's coastline alongside Lt. Surge. "I need you to—"

Whatever it was she was about to say was drowned out. Mimey had already whisked me away into a **Teleport**.

XxX

Jessie, James and Meowth. Team Rocket always functioned in at least a group of three. More inexperienced members would roam in entire platoons of ten or more, but anyone toting themselves as a part of the _Team_ had both the Pokémon and the skill to carry out missions in a group of three. Despite one of the members being a Pokémon themselves, Jessie James and Meowth were no different. They were a genuine, true-to-death member of the Team, even if their success rate was so abysmally low.

When I met Giovanni, the issue of that particular sect of the criminal organization was my very third question. My first was '_why are you doing this?'_ and _'you fucking bastard!_'

A part of me realizes that one of those wasn't a question.

Anyway, it turns out that, for all their failures at stealing Pokémon, the Idiot Trio was amazing at causing a distraction. Their inclusion, no matter where, was an excellent way to draw attention and resources away from some of Team Rocket's more… illegal operations. Jessie, James, and Meowth were all incompetent and annoying enough to not be a loss in potential should they ever be apprehended, and as such were the perfect bait.

Thus, they were provided with any amount of money they needed for their less than successful plans, provided that they were in the right place at the right time. Ironically, for all their inability to steal Pokémon, they were amazing escape artists, so the Trio, while causing mass amounts of panic and having several squads dedicated to their capture, were never caught.

They were an irresistible bait that could be continually reused, and no one, not even them, were any the wiser. Ironically, this made them one of the most cost efficient, valuable members of the Team, and it took several bottles of gin and a grueling battle to force that information out of the old stiff.

This being said, however, that the Idiot Trio were allowed to make this raid on the Cerulean Gym meant that something more important was happening elsewhere. So it was with a heavy heart that I snuck away from the Gym and allowed Mimey to carry me off. He dropped me off the coast of Cerulean, ironically not too far from where Bill's house was slated to be.

I had never met the man myself, and I had no intention to change that.

Mimey stood ahead of me, and his small, squinty eyes were trained ahead of him. They glowed blue, likely from the effort of **Teleporting** me so far, from so far away. This being the case, he didn't seem tired in the slightest. On the contrary, he seemed to almost forget that he pulled off such a move in the first place.

To the side, grooming himself with not a care in the world, was my Boy. He knew that I arrived, his ear twitch was a sign of that, but if he was concerned enough to greet me he sure didn't show it. In front of him his enemy, a rather powerful looking Arbok, attempted to approach. My Boy's eyes snapped open, his tongue lingering on his paw, and the snake stopped, a wary look in its eyes.

I looked beyond the poisonous murder machine and to its Trainer. Vibrant red hair the color of blood topped an angular and malicious face that could make a Grimer go ill.

"Oh?" she said, her voice a drawl. Like snake venom crawling down the side of a test tube. "Well, if it isn't Gimult. I didn't expect to see you here. I had thought the Boss would bring you to our side."

I grimaced. "Giovanni couldn't hire me if he paid me."

The woman's eyebrows raised. "I was under the assumption that he was, in fact, paying you."

"Hence my statement to be correct." And at that, Mimey focused on the Arbok. A Psychic field began to envelope it, but that hold was quickly broken by the interference of a Honchkrow.

The woman laughed, the action shaking her chest and bringing my attention to the red "R" emblazoned there. "Did you think it would be that easy, Gimult? We aren't children anymore. It is going to take more than that to dispose of me."

"And in that time, your little subordinates will get away with whatever stupid little games they're up to."

"How do you know that we're not here on charitable means this time?" she asked. This time I raised my brow.

"Are you?" I asked.

"No," she said. "We're here to harvest Slowpoke Tails for an operation in Johto." The woman then flipped her hair out of her face with an errant wave of her hand. "But it's a nice thought, isn't it? Team Rocket doing charity work? I won't lie, it is just a novel enough idea to have merit. Being a criminal gets boring after a while."

"You could just stop being an evil bastard."

"But, little Gimult, if I did that, what jobs would be left for goody-two-shoes like you?"

"I'm a bartender."

"And my cover job is a pharmacist. It doesn't fit me, either."

And with that, another Pokéball was in hand. Usually, I would have another in mine, but the rest of my team was… disposed. Instead, I ushered the two I had forward.

"You know that you won't win this. You never have."

"It was never about winning, Gimult," she said. "It's about completing the mission. Giovanni will understand my failure when he springs me from jail. All I have to do is drop your name, and all will be forgiven. He will not understand why I fled and let the operation fail." She spit on the ground. "I fear his wrath more than I fear yours."

"Giovanni couldn't stop me if he tried."

"Oh, but Gimult," she said. Her voice took on a dark tone. "_You_ won't kill me for opposing you."

And like that, words became unnecessary. Her Pokémon sprang forward, only to be intercepted by my own.

I sighed. "Very well. Do you worst, Executive Ariana."


	10. Chapter 10

_**New chapter, new me.**_

_**Enjoy. **_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 10:

Vs. Ariana

The Boy attacked immediately, of course. He was always a strategic little thing, always ready to employ any number of plans against a superior foe. Those plans, however, were only employed against people who he considered superior. Executive Ariana was not a superior foe.

Her Arbok, of course, didn't seem to agree. It responded to the Boy with a lunge of its own. My Boy, of course, didn't stop, and wasn't even surprised when the gigantic poison type was suddenly struck immobile. A blue film wrapped around his body, and Arbok was held captive as it was gripped by a surge of Psychic energy. With a flourish, the little normal type spun, ready to strike out with an _Iron Tail_, when Ariana's Honchkrow descended once more. It's **Dark** typing interrupted Mimey's _Psychic_, and Arbok pulled away from my Boy's attack.

The Iron Tail struck the ground, cracking it and sending tremors throughout the ground. The Arbok flinched at the low power _Magnitude_, but it didn't seem to receive any lasting damage.

The four Pokémon retreated to the opposite ends of the field. Hers back to her, and mine back to mine. They glared at one another, ready for combat, but neither moved without orders.

I was the first to speak. "Do we really have to do this, Ariana? You can't believe that they'll spring you on another bail charge. You'll be violating probation just by being here."

"Whether I am out through the legal way or the illegal way means very little to me. I am a career criminal, young man." Ariana flipped her hair. "You could have been as well."

"I would sooner choke on my own dick and die. Mimey, _Ancient Power_."

Mimey nodded and used psychic powers from a time long past to conjure rocks from the earth. I wasn't sure how it pulled up fossils every time it was used, but it wasn't important. What mattered was that it worked.

Also, _Ancient Power_ wasn't a move that Mr. Mime could actually learn, in any capacity, but I wasn't one to ask questions. The rocks flew, enchanted by a special power that only Mr. Mime currently understood, straight for the flying **Dark** type.

"Honchy!" Ariana screamed. "Dodge!"

The Honchkrow wasted no time. With a single flap of its powerful wings, it soared high into the air. The rocks missed by a talon, streaking past the point where the Honchkrow once was with all the speed of a bullet.

They stopped immediately, however, and soon the Honchkrow had to keep dodging the rocks that were following it as if they were tracing it.

"Boy!" I roared. My Eevee's ears twitched, but it did not move in any other way. "The Honchkrow is preoccupied. Take out your target while Mimey has it busy!"

My Boy needed no other command. It huffed, before darting off.

Most Pokémon would be unable to keep up with my Boy's insane initial rush of speed. I knew for a fact that Ariana trained with Giovanni. At the very least she and her Pokémon would be exposed to that level of speed.

I was correct, as the Arbok ducked under the Boy's _Quick Attack_. Granted, it wasn't by much, the Arbok was still grazed, but it managed to avoid a serious injury. My Boy recovered quickly, it landed and skidded for just a second before launching into another _Quick Attack_. This one the Arbok wasn't prepared for, and it was hit squarely in the back.

The great serpent hissed as it fell forward. It managed to catch itself before it fully fell, but it was obvious that the powerful **Poison**-type was feeling the damage.

My Boy landed gracefully, a smirk on its face. He was feeling cocky, and it was a feeling that was well earned. The Arbok, while powerful, was still a league or two below the caliber of Pokémon that my Boy was used to facing.

"Arbok!" Ariana yelled. "You're a target if you stay still. Get moving!"

The Arbok looked back, dissent on the tip of its forked tongue. Still, it obeyed, and before long it moved away. It slithered, flowing like a powerful wave of purple as it bent and flurried around the ball of brown. Now that it wasn't a stationary target, the mostly straight shots of _Quick Attack_ were made less accurate.

"Boy, follow," I commanded. My Boy looked back as well. He seemed unsure, but after a nod of my head he obeyed. He shot after the snake, ready to tear it to pieces. It wasn't long before the two were out of sight. The sound of Pokémon moves clashing in the surrounding forest were no doubt heard for at least a mile around.

"Mimey," I said. My starter turned to me, its eyes shining blue. "I want this to be over as quickly as possible. Bring down that bird."

Mimey didn't even try to argue. It simply nodded and turned back to its fight. It surrounded itself in its own psionic energy before taking off. The Honchkrow, unused to such ability, was fazed for but a second before fleeing.

Once they were well in the air above us, I turned back to Ariana. Her smile, strained by the presence of at least two of my aces, regained some of its luster once both of those Pokémon were out of useful range.

"They're as terrifying as I remember," Ariana said. She tossed one of her loaded balls in the air. It wasn't active yet, but it didn't matter. The very threat of a Pokémon, any Pokémon, was more prevalent than anything I could do in the short amount of time it took for her to release it. "This wouldn't be the first time that I wondered what horrifying techniques you took to rear them."

I looked into the sky. Honchkrow was having trouble staying ahead of Mimey as he zipped along behind him. In any other situation, if someone asked you to describe an aerial battle between a Mr. Mime and a Honchkrow, it would not be described as such.

"Daily pushups and lots of juice," I answered. I turned my eyes back to her. The annoyed twitch of her eyebrow was like a balm to my tired and weary soul.

She sighed. The simple button press of her Pokéball was like the cocking of a gun. "Very well. I didn't expect you to share your secrets with me, your sworn enemy."

I snorted. That she thought she was my _sworn enemy_ was adorable.

"Still," she continued. "I don't need to beat you in order to win. I just need to capture you for Giovanni. He'll really enjoy a wrapped up Gimult as a present."

I nodded my head. Every so often my eyes wavered to where I thought I heard my Boy fighting in the forest around us.

"And I also know for a fact that you don't have any of the rest of your team with you. You're all alone, out in the Kantonian wilds. As long as my Pokémon keep yours occupied, you're basically defenseless against me."

The bushes rustled once more. I turned to it, only to see a flash of purple. I shook my head before turning back. It couldn't be.

"Here is where you finally lose. I don't know why you released so many of your monsters, but it will be your undoing! Come out, Drowzee!"

There was a flash of light, and the **Psychic**-type Pokémon Drowzee sprang from her Pokéball. It was a brown and yellow bipedal anteater type Pokémon, and it was entirely deserving of its name. Its eyes were eternally half-lidded, and even its posture suggested that it wanted to tip over and take a nap.

"I'm not going to waste any time on an evil monologue or anything," Ariana said. "I don't know how long my Pokémon can hold off yours."

I heard Honchkrow screech. I looked up to see it swerve after getting clipping with one of Mimey's _Ancient Power_ rocks.

"We're just going to end this here. Drowzee, us _Hypnosis_!"

The first form **Psychic** glowed blue with the usage of its psychic powers. I could tell that it was exerting its powers to attempt to lull me to sleep. Most Pokémon, even the hardiest of which, were vulnerable to the sleep-inducing effects of a Drowzee. Me, however?

I was made of sterner stuff. I had faced down stronger psychics than this first-form baby, and I was likely to face down many more. I shrugged off the psionic sway as easily as one would brush a leaf out of their hair and smiled.

"Was that supposed to do anything?" I asked. Ariana frowned.

"I forgot that you were a freak."

"Is that any way to say 'genetically superior'?"

She cursed. With a gesture she commanded her Drowzee to attack. The _Psystrike_ was powerful, but not unexpected. I had to dodge out the way of the shards of psionic energy. One managed to scrape my arm, sending blood out. Not much, but enough of a trickle to stain my clothing.

I felt my face pale.

"That, uh… that wasn't a good idea."

"Oh?" Arianna asked. Her smile was as toxic as her Pokémon. "Is the legendary Trainer Gimult afraid of a little blood?"

I shook my head. "Hardly. I'm not afraid of blood in the slightest. What I am afraid of, however, is what Mimey will do to you once he figures out what you did."

I ripped a piece of fabric from my backpack and used it to tie the wound. It wasn't necessary, not in the slightest, but I needed to hide the evidence.

"We could end this now. We could stop this before it becomes any worse, and you could get far enough away from here to escape the blast radius."

Arianna snorted. "I know you're strong, but even your Mimey isn't strong enough to overpower a **Dark**-type. At the very least, you can't stop me from escaping on Honchkrow."

I started to say something, I did, but something told me that it was a fruitless effort. Instead, I closed my eyes, shrugged, and decided to let the fallout speak for itself.

"Now," Arianna said. "It is time to end this. Drowzee!"

The **Psychic**-type nodded, before preparing another _Psystrike_. It got into the telltale blue glow of its eyes before a pink powder drenched the area around it. It was in the cloud for exactly one second before it dropped to the ground, fast asleep.

For once, both Arianna and I were speechless.

"What was—" Arianna started. She made it exactly two words into her sentence before something slammed into the ground.

When the dust cleared, it was to the form of Mimey. In the clutch of one of his disproportionately big hands was the neck of his opponent.

"But…" Arianna gasped. "That's impossible! You shouldn't even be able to touch Honchkrow!"

Mimey's eyes were glowing in a myriad of colors, looking akin to a kaleidoscope.

"Yup," I said, my voice a wary whisper. "_Miracle Eye_. He can touch **Dark**-types without much trouble."

Arianna looked at me, then she looked back at my starter that had both rainbows and death in his eyes.

"But…" she stammered. "But Mr. Mime can't learn that move."

I sighed. "I… I know."

Mimey turned to me. His eyes scanned, not my injured arm, but my mind for confirmation of what his psionic sense had already alerted him to. My mind wasn't locked from Mimey, never was. Not since I first made my connection with him back when he was a Mime Jr. He found what he was looking for immediately, namely, the pain that came with taking damage from the attack.

He turned back to Arianna. His body started to glow blue.

"What's—" Arianna started. In that very second, her Arbok came flying through a tree. It broke the treeline, a crumpled and bloodied mess. My Boy came darting out after it, its eyes frenzied and alarmed. It took one look at Mimey before darting directly over to me. It scaled me leg before darting directly into my backpack.

I felt the thing shiver.

"Well…" I started. "Fuck."

"What's _happening_?" I heard Arianna call over the din of my Mr. Mime's steadily growing stockpile of power.

"You pissed off my starter," I answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Considering the state of the battlefield, it was.

"But… what is it doing now?"

"Nuking the area."

"Nuking the _what_?" she asked, voice escalating. She made to ask more, but the shine of Mimey's power finally overpowered my ability to endure, and I had to look away.

Next thing I knew, I was looking down on an explosion with a radius of several miles. The destruction continued for quite a while before finally dying down, leaving a crater bigger than what I expected.

I turned to the flapping wings above me and met eye-to-many eye with the **Bug**-type hanging onto my bag, keeping me safely in the air.

"Free?" I asked. The Butterfree tilted its head. Its wings continued to flap in a perfect beat. Each individual bug wing was bigger than my torso.

"_Free_?" the **Bug**-type responded. It tilted its head again, revealing the purple ribbon I had tied around its neck.

I did it for identification purposes. I probably shouldn't have bothered. It was the biggest Butterfree I had ever known.

It was also my very first capture.

The Boy peeked its head out of the bag, then cooed once it saw its friend. Its eyes practically shone as it rocketed out of the bag and onto my head. In one fluid motion, it proceeded to scale to the top of Free's head, and then it nuzzled its cheek against Free's antennae.

Free wasn't really one for physical affection, but it made exceptions for me and the Boy. It let Free continue to nuzzle it while we looked down on the battlefield.

"Do you think that they survived?"

Free chirped. It had psychic powers, but only enough to really convey the simplest of messages. Luckily, "yes" was a simple message.

"Yeah," I responded. "Mimey doesn't kill. Usually. I'm sure they're fine."

We hovered in the air for a minute or two, before coming to a decision.

"I think Mimey will be playing with them for a bit longer," I said. Smaller psionic explosions rang out, sending blue mushroom clouds into the air. I was supremely thankful for the surprising durability of the humans in this world. "Do you mind taking us back to Cerulean, Free?"

Free chirped. It tilted its head, then sent a psionic pulse into my mind. I got the vague question of a destination, and I sighed.

"To… we're going to the Cerulean Gym."

To its credit, Free didn't hesitate. Out of all of my Pokémon, Free was the most obedient. Still, I got the feeling it would have gone no matter what I asked.

When we landed, I could see the anger on the Sisters' faces. Where had I gone? Why had I left during an attack? Why didn't I say anything? All that and more was probably building in their minds during the time I was gone, and it was all ready to explode on me like a truly punishing _Bide_ attack.

That rage evaporated when my mammoth Butterfree caught their attention. All of the Sisters reared back, their faces equal measures of horror, disgust and surprise.

"Is that… Free?" Daisy asked. Her mouth was held open in unabashed shock. "That… it's still alive?"

Free seemed to take offense to that. It quivered in the air for a bit, and all the Sisters immediately raised their hands to their Pokéballs.

"You, uh…" Violet started. For once it was obvious what emotion she was feeling. It was fear. "Why don't you put Free back in his Pokéball for us? He seems… agitated."

"And bigger," Lily added. Her voice shook as she talked. "He seems a lot bigger."

I looked at Free. He was resting on my shoulders, one of of his enormous feet on each of my shoulders. Honestly, he was a little heavy, but no more so than he was when I first parted ways with him.

"I dunno. He seems about the same."

"Okay, but can you return him?" Daisy asked. I don't think she noticed, but she had inched away, and was still inching away.

I scratched my cheek. "Uh, about that…"

"Gimult…" I heard Lily say. There was an undertone of anger in all of that fear.

"I kind of… released him? Not officially!" I yelled when the Sisters almost exploded. "He's still registered to a Pokéball! I just don't… have it…"

The Sisters looked on the verge of meltdown, so I held out my hands. "Don't worry! He's fine now! I released him to a pod of Butterfree, and he's like, a dad now. Right, Free?"

Free hadn't responded. I didn't notice, as I was caught up trying to placate the poor sisters, but he had layered a small amount of psychic energy over his eyes. He was staring the Sisters down something fierce, something that was likely the cause of their panic.

"Free," I said. My loyal **Bug**-type turned to me. It released the psychic energy it was holding and chirped.

"Don't prank the poor girls."

Free chirped again. He didn't seem to want to stop, but it was something that I ordered, so he obeyed. He took off from my head, his great wing flaps unsettling dirt and shaking windows, before hovering just a bit overhead.

The Boy elected to stay on his head. I gestured for it to get down.

It stuck its tongue out at me.

"Fine," I said. "But come back. How long are you going to be here, Free?"

Free's eyes glowed for just a second before fading. I got the general idea of _a week_.

"Fine," I said. "Just don't get into trouble."

The Boy chirped its assent, while Free sent me a wave of intention that said that it would follow my commands. I had full confidence that Free would keep its word.

I turned back to the Sisters. "See? He's fine now!"

The beatdown I received was legendary.


	11. Chapter 11: A Farewell Battle: Part 1

_**So here we are, the first real battle that Gimult will partake in. The first real one was supposed to be Eevee vs Rhyperior, but I felt like it was too early. **_

_**So instead we have this.**_

_**I am sorry about the length of the chapter. I needed to split it up because of things pertaining to work. I am actually out of a job now, and I need to look for a new one ASAP. A lot of my time will be dedicated towards both that and handling things in my personal life. Rather than delay a new chapter for a very long time, I felt like I would give you slightly shorter chapters with a quicker update time. **_

_**If any of you have job opportunities for me, however, send it my way. **_

_**But enough of that, remember to comment and let me know how I'm doing. As always, I read every one. Thoughts are still open about a Discord server, so don't be afraid to let me know what you think about that one.**_

_**Please, read and enjoy.**_

* * *

XxX

A Second Journey

Chapter 11:

The Farewell Battle: Part 1

Mimey hadn't come back until the sun set. He had scorch marks marring his body— some on his torso, some on his arms and legs— but otherwise he seemed mostly okay. He was a little out of breath—nuking an entire area would do that to you— but it was nothing that a little rest wouldn't solve.

"How are you?" I asked. I was reading a book in my room in the Cerulean Gym when he entered. His _Teleport_ sent a _crack_ not unlike the recoil of a whip, and I had to restrain a flinch at the intensity. That I heard or saw him enter at all was telling of his exhaustion. I sent him a wave, something he sent back, before watching him collapse on his bed of comforters and pillows.

I looked out into the distance. A part of the forest was still smoking.

"Thanks, Mimey," I said. He responded with a grunt mostly muffled by the sheets.

XxX

I awoke, not to the sunlight, but to the gentle probing of Mimey. His words echoed around my head as if he were speaking in a large, empty hallway. He must not have fully recovered yet.

"_The Disaster Boy has awakened_," Mimey said. "_He will be leaving for Vermillion soon_."

I nodded. I rose from the bed and sighed. The Boy and Free hadn't returned from their excursion yet. I was sure that Free would return soon. Whether or not The Boy would return with him was another matter.

"_The Imp isn't too far. He's causing trouble amongst the Butterfree pack_."

"And Free?" I asked.

"_The Hive Leader is watching. He still feels some form of studentship towards the Imp_."

I sighed. "They're both parents now, and they're still just horsing around like hatchlings." I shook my head. "Oh well. I'm going to get dressed. You can get some breakfast while I try to find a way to break it to the Sisters that I'm leaving again."

Mimey nodded, though I got the general feeling that he was going to be doing that anyway. As I undressed to shower, he slunk away, walking in that weird way that only Mr. Mimes do.

XxX

I walked into the basement, only to see the Sisters all gathered around the breakfast table. Mimey was off to the side, talking animatedly with one of the Sisters' Gyrados. As they all had one, I wasn't entirely sure which one this particular beast belonged to.

I gathered some toast and eggs from the table set off to the side before making my way over the water bridge to the center platform.

"How are you all doing?" I asked. I was met with silence. I had known that they would be angry at me, I just didn't know it was this much.

"Guys," I said. None of them even deigned to turn to me. "Okay, listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to abandon you all like that. I just knew that you could handle it, and I had something more important to deal with."

The Sisters continued to ignore me. Lily and Daisy continued to pick away at their breakfasts, while Violet fiddled with her tablet. I looked around at them, hoping for the smallest bit of recognition, and sighed when I didn't receive even a twitch for my efforts.

I quietly turned to my own breakfast and nibbled on the edge of my toast.

"_Mimey, can you help me out, here?_" I thought. I knew that my starter was listening. He was always listening to my mind.

"_I will not help you with this. If I kept helping you with people you'd never learn_."

And there I was, up shit creek without a paddle. I opened my mouth to try and say something else, but I was silenced by the almost synonymous clink of their plates. The Sisters all put down their utensils, letting the metal hit against the porcelain of their plates.

"Do you remember 14 years ago?" Violet asked around the napkin she was using to clean her mouth. It was an amazingly robotic thing.

"You're going to have to be more specific…"

"When you _left_!" Lily yelled. Her hands slammed down on the table, shaking the plates and the glasses. The cutlery tumbled to the floor.

I felt my mouth open, but I didn't hear anything come out. I stared at them for a few seconds before I finally answered.

"I… remember. Yes."

"It was in the early spring, just like it is now," Daisy said. Her voice, as soft and gentle as always, had a different timbre to it. It sounded sad. Resigned. "You gathered up Mimey, Boy and Free the night before. We saw you do it, but we never asked why. We played ignorant. We thought nothing of it." Daisy's eyes trailed downward. Her voice gained a tinge. A tinge of what, however, I couldn't discern. "We were thinking a lot of things, but never that you would just up and leave."

"Fourteen years," Lily said. Gone was the usual fire, replaced instead by a rawness that brought a terrible something to my core. "Fourteen years apart. That's longer than we had together. A lot of things can change in that time. Do we even know you anymore?"

For me, the passing of time was fickle. A month could pass as quickly as a week to me, and I would get just as much done in either time frame. Call it the curse of living two lives, but time was truly just a concept to a person who broke the boundary of death.

It was a fact I had come to embrace a while ago.

"Yes," I answered. And I was sure of it. I had changed a lot from who I was when I was born into this world, but my base, what really mattered? It hadn't changed one bit. "I'm still the same person."

"Perhaps," Violet said. She had finally relinquished her tablet. It sat, screen off, beside her mostly untouched plate of salad. "But do you know who we are? Are we the same as the children you left?"

Of course they were.

"Of course you are," I said.

I wondered if that was the right thing to say. The Sisters just looked at one another, their eyes meeting each other's even though there were three of them. They stayed that way, the mood tense as they did so, before nodding as one.

They used to do that as children, too. To this day I am convinced they are part _Psychic_.

"_They are not_."

Well, fuck.

As one, the three girls rise from their seats. It was so synchronized as to be as one. They moved a hand to their belts, and each pulled a Pokéball from their waists. They held them towards me, determination in their eyes.

"You're leaving again," Violet said. It was meant more as a statement than as a question, thus Violet was the perfect one to relay it. Her manner of speaking was so blunt, so factual, that it hit the perfect emphasis. They were aware of my impending departure.

"But this time, we're not letting you go without seeing you off." This time it was Lily that spoke up. In her eyes was a fire that would not be quenched. Her fingers rubbed against the top half of her ball. The red paint had already been worn away in places from that habit of hers.

"You against us," Daisy said. Her eternally smiling face was set into a frown. "All three of yours against one each of ours." Her eyes darkened. "If you win, you get to leave."

Despite myself, I scoffed. "You can't possibly believe that you could keep me here," I said. I gestured to Mimey. He looked up at me, did his equivalent of a sigh, and nodded. "He can _Teleport_ me whenever I want."

"Yes," Daisy said. "We never assumed that we could hold you by force. If you leave without beating us, however…"

The pressure in the seemed to intensify. I felt my heart beat faster.

"You will never be allowed to return."

I looked at them, determination in their eyes, and waited. I stared them down with all the willpower I used to face much worse adversaries and waited. A part of me knew that, if I pushed, that they would relent. Call it a hunch, but I knew that I could leave without much fuss, though they would resent me for it. I frowned, and I saw the girls flinch from even that much.

Still, they did not back down.

I sighed. It was to be one of those days.

"Fine," I said. "You're on."

XxX

"Welcome to the Cerulean City Gym!" a peppy young woman nearly screamed into the microphone. She was younger than me, but not by much. If I had to say, she was in the early twenties, but her demeanor made her seem so much younger. True to form, she wore a navy-blue one-piece swimsuit, as was customary in a Water gym, and nothing much else. "Are we all ready for a battle?"

The other Gym Trainers, all women, roared from the stands. They all wore various swimsuits— some one-piece, some two. Some modest, some not— and had their Pokéballs tied to necklaces around their necks.

"That's what I like to hear!" the young woman, the referee, called. There was no one here besides Gym staff, but she still played the part of an announcer, playing up the crowd of her coworkers. I supposed that old habits die hard— the Cerulean Gym was as much a tourist attraction as it was a government facility, after all. "We have a special battle for you today!"

The crowd roared, and the announcer lady took a minute to soak in their screams and to let it die down. When it finally did, she continued.

"Today, we have a challenge! But it's _not_ the usual battle that we're used to! Oh, no! Today, our challengers are the lovely Siren Sisters! Our _entrancing triplets_, _our Sensational Sisters_: Gym Leaders Daisy, Violet, and Lily!"

And at that the crowd went insane. If their screaming was loud up until this point, it was absolutely deafening now. A door opened on the other side of the arena, and the three sisters walked out as one. They all wore one-piece swimsuits, of course, but unlike the others theirs were color coded to suit them. Daisy wore a red swimsuit that would have matched Lily's hair, while Lily wore an orange one that would match Daisy's. Violet, in the middle, wore a green one for some reason, though I had to admit that it didn't look bad on her.

The three sisters approached their side of the field— which was little more than an absolutely gigantic pool with the occasional floating circular platform— and stood in their battler's box. Their faces were set into a grim façade that I could see even from my place opposite them.

"And our defending Trainer today is none other than… what?" the announcer girl stopped, and her voice lost its loud, charismatic quality. She looked at the piece of paper in her hand, then held it closer. She squinted her eyes, then moved it back again.

"Gimult?" she said. She looked up to the Sisters to make sure that she was reading it right. When the Sisters nodded at her she seemed to startle— jumping back and then looking over at me from my place over on my side of the arena.

Her posture seemed to stiffen. She took a deep breath before trying to recompose herself.

"O-our match today is between the Sensational Sisters: Daisy, Violet, and Lily," the announcer stuttered, her voice slowly regaining its old vigor, "and the Adventurer Champion, Gimult!"

For once, the crowd had gone silent. I relished in the ability to hear my own thoughts for once. Sadly, it was not meant to be, and soon the crowd had returned to its rowdy ways.

"We have an unusual battle today, folks!" the announcer girl said. "Today will be a one-on-three, with our lovely Sisters each claiming a Pokémon each, while our defender can use up to three! Typically, it would be the Defending Trainer that releases first, but the Challengers requested that they would be the first to pick! Are you guys ready?"

She looked to the Sisters first. They each nodded. It was a small, yet firm thing. I found myself oddly proud of them. The announcer looked back towards me, and I responded with the same.

"Then, Challengers! You may release first!"

To my utter surprise, it was Violet who released first. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting Lily, as she was typically the weakest of them. No matter.

"Cloyster!" she yelled. She tossed her ball, not into the air, but directly into the pool. The water was alit with the light of her behemoth of a bivalve before the ball was ejected right back out and into Violet's waiting hand.

It took a second, but Violet's famed Cloyster rose from the depths. The water seemed to bulge at the point of emergence, rustling the waves and wetting my feet. It took a few seconds, but all the water finally drained from her Cloyster's head, and two beady eyes peeked out at me from the depths of the gargantuan diamond-hard shell.

"_Cloy_," the beast said. I knew it was the creature's form of greeting, so I waved back. It nodded once, in what way a giant shell could, before closing itself off from the world and sinking back into the pool.

"That's all you're going to be seeing of it," Violet said. She retrieved her tablet and started tapping at it. "Cloyster excels at fighting in the deep. If you can't reach it, you don't have a chance of beating me."

I nodded. Normally, such a statement would be of no consequence to me. Most people who relied on a gimmick would be taken out pretty quickly once my Pokémon displayed superior experience.

Violet was not a person I could do that with. Instead of a cocky newbie, or even an overconfident Elite Trainer, Violet was every bit the Water Master she claimed to be. That she shared her title with her two sisters meant little.

I sent out a thought. I was quick to get an answer.

The glass roof of the Gym shattered as Free came crashing through it with all the grace of a Tauros. It fell through amid shards of glass, its wings wrapped around it as it fell like a ball. Right before impact with the pool, my Butterfree let its wings unfurl, letting its majestic form be on display.

"_Free!_" it yelled. Its warbling cry was immediately eclipsed by the flapping of its wings. The crowd was awash in _oohs_ and _ahs_, but Violet seemed none more surprised. Instead, she seemed more determined than ever.

"You're starting with Free," she said. "It seems that you're not taking me seriously."

I smirked. "If you think that Free is in any way a pushover, you're wrong. He's just as powerful as the rest of my team."

To punctuate that fact, Free seemed to cry in indignation. Its wings shivered, and its eyes glowed ever so slightly. To anyone even slightly less experienced, this would seem an intimidation tactic. Violet, however, was no mere Ace Trainer.

Her eyes widened, and she wasted no time. "_Cloyster!_ That's **Quiver Dance**! Don't let it get it off!"

The pool rumbled as waves beset it once more, and before long the water's surface ruptured once more. A high-powered jet of water broke the serenity of the pool, and Free had to quickly scramble out of the way of the **Hydro Pump**.

"What's this?" the announcer called, her mouth agape. "The battle seems to have started, but I hadn't given the signal yet!"

"A real fight can't wait for a signal!" I yelled. I sent a thought out, and Free read it instantly. It rose into the air, well above the ramparts where the crowd watched, before starting its **Quiver Dance **again. I turned to Violet, only to see her grit her teeth. It was such a rare show of emotion that I was tempted to coo. "Well, Violet? I can't reach your Cloyster, but it can't reach Free. If you don't do something about it soon, this will quickly become a losing battle for you all."

And, sure enough, it was. Free, now that he was no longer hiding his technique, was freely quivering through the air. A green-bluish aura had started to emanate around his wings, and the quivering slowly started to grow faster.

I turned back to Violet. "Well? Will you hide or will you make your move?"

Violet knew the precariousness of her situation. If she didn't move now, she would be faced with a situation she had no business handling. "Very well. Cloyster! Use** Surf**!"

I watched as the water of the pool, for one second, went absolutely still. The waves that were crashing against the edges all but stopped, and the surface was as still as a mirror.

Then it jumped. It went flowing directly upwards, as if some hand of god had slapped it all at once. Amidst the rising waves I could just barely make out the gargantuan form of Cloyster. Its shell was open, letting me see the smirking face of the monster within.

On one hand, I was both amazed and proud of Violet. To train a Cloyster, a Pokémon that typically relied on its _Ice_ typing to attack, to wield water with such finesse and power, was an amazing achievement. On another hand, however…

"Free! It moved from its safe place! **Bug Buzz**!"

Like all of my Pokémon, Free was trained to respond to orders the second I said them. Unlike in the anime, where a command could reach a Pokémon well before an attack, some attacks in the real world moved far faster than sound. This wasn't one of them, but it was still something to be cautious of. Free, of course, waster no time, and a green surge of sound soon vibrated from its already quivering wings.

It hit the waves like a truck. The waves took on a faintly green tinge, and all of the momentum of Cloyster's **Surf** was arrested. The Cloyster itself did not find itself in a good situation. It managed to close its shell in time, but it did very little to protect itself from the special sound-based attack that would simply go _through_ the shell.

Violet, of course, saw what was happening immediately. "Cloyster! Don't just take it! **Blizzard**, all around!"

The Cloyster hesitated, which was natural. Free's **Bug Buzz**, especially after a **Quiver Dance**, was a harrowing ordeal. Still, it listened to the words of its trainer and opened its shell. Its face was fixed into this pained grimace, but it still managed to attack.

I was expecting a blizzard.

I did not expect the _white-out_ that emerged from its shell. If its mastery over water was impressive, then its _Ice-type_ attacks were downright insane. The temperature of the hall dropped almost twenty degrees in a few seconds, and had I not prepared myself for it, I would have gone into shock from the drastic change.

The effects of the attack were immediate. The water in the air froze, turning into gigantic floes of ice. Free, seeing the attack, quickly moved away, flying as far to the edge of the room as possible. It was not enough, however, as the _Ice_-type energy all but flooded the room. He threw up a **Protect**, but even that much energy started to freeze over as well.

Cloyster continued its attack, bombarding the area with ice for a few seconds more before finally stopped. It fell back to the pool along with the now frozen bits of water, before breaking through the now frozen surface and returning to its depths.

I turned to Violet. She was breathing hard. That attack was indiscriminate and, though it was not aimed at any of us, the stress of putting up with even the aftermath of a Pokémon attack was straining. Even now I could see her breath in the frozen air.

"You're not the only one who grew stronger," she said. A small smile was on her face. I could tell she that she was enjoying the fight. "I'm going to beat you, Gimmy, and I will force you to stay."

I smiled. I wasn't staying, but I could admire that determination. "We'll see. Free!"

The ice that culminated around Free's **Protect** fell away as he released it. He had managed to block the most of the attack, but I could tell by the frost on the tips of its wings that some of it got to him. Still, it was just a matter of shaking it off, and soon he was back and ready to rumble.

"Get that fish out of the water! Use **Air Slash**!"

Free's wings glowed, before taking a mighty flap. A typical **Air Slash** sent out one or two blades of _Flying_-type energy that rent all in its path asunder. Free was an Elite-level Pokémon. It did not use typical moves.

The flurry of gigantic blades of wind bombarded the pool. I heard the crashing and tinkling of ice as Free churned the water and reduced the pool to ribbons. Water splashed and roared and foamed, and soon the numbness of the chilled air was blown away by the chaotic storm of wind.

"Is this the kind of battles that happen among the Master-class?" the announcer girl yelled. She was practically screaming into a microphone, but still her voice was muffled out by the cacophony. Free kept up his assault for a few more minutes, but even I knew that it was all for naught. I sent out the thought for him to stop, and he did so.

"Are you done?" Violet asked. She had put her tablet away, tucked into a waterproof duffel bag at her side.

"Yeah," I said. "I feel like the greetings are done."

Violet smiled. It was a small thing. "Good. Then we can start. Cloyster!"

"Free!"

"**Icicle Crash!**"

"**Hurricane!**"


	12. Chapter 12: A Farewell Battle: Part 2

_**Guess what? New chapter! As usual, here's a shoutout to some especially good comments:**_

_n0mster**: As usual, your comments are spot-on. Gimult does seem pretty weird, at least socially, doesn't he? I had thought that I had hinted towards it well enough, but it seems that I haven't. I don't like explaining character intentions so straightforward, but I feel you deserve it with constant commenting and well-thought out reviews. **_

_**As usual, I appreciate your comments. You're a breath of fresh review air. Also, yes, his naming sense is garbage, lmao.**_

_NovaWars**: Thank you for the enthusiasm! Thank you so much for the good energy! I appreciate every time that you comment and look forward to the emails with your name on it! Let's get these jobs! Lol  
**_

_EchoTheHybrid**: Thank you! I love that you took the time to let me know.  
**_

_GM0127**: I'd always wondered why they were allowed to be so obviously bad at their jobs, but get to stay employed. That was my reasoning, lmao.  
**_

* * *

A Second Journey

Chapter 12:

A Farewell Battle, Part 2

"Cloyster," Violet said. Her voice was as grave as the frown on her face. "No more playing around. **Icy Wind**. Change the terrain."

The bivalve wasted no time. It shut its shell for but a second before opening and letting loose a flurry of ice. The temperature dipped once again as shards of barely noticeable ice coursed through the air.

I shivered a little, and my teeth chattered. It was only slightly unpleasant to me, but I knew that to a _Bug/Flying_ type like Free the chill would be a few degrees short of unbearable. If left out like this the cold would sap his strength, and thus, his speed.

I sent out a thought of urgency, and Free sprung into action. His eyes glowed, and then his antennae. A multicolored blast of energy shot out from them, and the **Psybeam** came bearing down on the _Ice_-type. Violet didn't have enough time to call out an order, it was so sudden, so Cloyster could only close its shell in response. I was sure that it mitigated at least some of the damage, but _Psychic_ moves had a way that it affected more than just the physical body.

Violet, of course, knew as much. "Cloyster! You can't let that keep hitting you! Dive deep!"

The bivalve did so, and I immediately sent Free the order to resume its dance. Free started its **Quiver Dance **once more, an action that was immediately disrupted by Cloyster's pot shots. Jets of water came bursting from the pool's surface. None of them hit, but Free was being constantly disrupted from building its energy.

"I know that its not illegal," Violet said. I turned to look at her. Her frown wasn't gone, not fully, but it was mostly replaced by an almost appraising look. "But I still find it slightly unfair that your Butterfree can communicate with you via its almost laughable _Psychic_ prowess."

I felt Free's indignation, and almost had to laugh as its energy started building faster.

"You know what the trend is for my Pokémon," I said. "They're outliers, all of them."

And it was here that I saw just a little bit of a smile return to her face. "Just like their owner. Cloyster! Enough playing around! **Ice Beam!**"

I was expecting the beam of _Ice_-energy to come from the water. Violet, for all her eccentricities, was a Master. She would be able to, somehow, shoot the beam from the water without freezing it. My eyes, as well as Free's, were trained on the pool. We were ready for any attack coming from the tumultuous waves.

I was _not_ ready for Free's cry of pain. My eyes darted to my first capture, only to see it staggering in the air. Its left wing was encased in ice, and it was having trouble staying airborne.

"But…" I started. Nothing came from the pool. How did…

The air was beset with shards of ice. The air right behind Free was derelict of it.

I smiled. It was ingenious. Violet saw my amusement.

"He's figured it out, Cloyster! That means the Butterfree has as well! Hit it while it's down!"

"Free! **Bug Buzz **the ice away!"

Free's wings vibrated, and the ice was soon decimated as the vibrations both melted and shaved through the frozen water. _Ice_ energy still coalesced in the air behind him, however, and the residual power left behind from both the previous **Blizzard** and the **Icy Wind** was pulled into a glowing blue ball of _Ice_.

It existed, floating in the air for all of a single second. Then it fired. The light blue beam cut through the air like a laser, and it was only the speed granted to him from his **Quiver Dance **and a hastily thought order to _move_ that allowed Free to dodge.

If only barely.

"The Cloyster is using the power of the _Ice_ in the air to form its attacks!" I yelled. "It can come from anywhere!"

Free nodded. His eyes glowed once more, and a small pulse of psionic energy pulsed from it. The snowflakes jittered, going still for but a second before falling lazily once more.

Free had turned on. I supposed it was time to be serious.

"That was impressive." And it was. A Master was a Master, no matter the type, but to teach your Pokémon to do such a thing? That was both creative and devastating. "Are you sure that you don't want to follow in Lorelei's footsteps and be an _Ice_ Master?"

"To be a Master of a type is to master the Pokémon in its domain. That includes their abilities that extend beyond their type."

"I suppose," I said. "Well, let's see how you handle this. Free! **Cutting Gale**!"

There was more to being a Master than just creative uses of predetermined moves. A true Master created their own moves, and that was exactly what I did. Violet tensed as Free's wings started to flap faster and faster, until a veritable storm winds coalesced around them. It reached the point where the wind was visible and distorting the vision of him.

Once the winds were nearly ear-splitting— a feat that took a laughably short amount of time— Butterfree reared back. It brought its wings together in a resounding _clap_.

And then the gym floor parted.

"Cloyster!" Violet called. "Iron Defense!"

I didn't know whether or not she got the move out in time. All I knew was that the Cerulean Gym had a new scar in their floor. Water would be rushing into the new expansion that spanned opposite corners of the pool, had it not been currently reeling from the attack. Even now the water looked like a certain mythological man had split it like a sea.

"_Free!_" my friend called, and the wind charged around its wings again. I held up a hand, however, and it stopped.

"Will you continue?" I asked. Violet looked to me. Her face was, as usual, impassive, but there was a little something there. A slight bite of her lips, and the fidget of her left heel, showed her anxiety.

She didn't answer me, and instead chose to stare intently at the pool. The water slowly filled in the scar left behind by what was essentially an overpowered **Air Slash**. It rushed down like twin waterfalls to the bottom of the endlessly deep pool, until…

"_Cloy_…" a tired voice rang. Violet's Cloyster bobbed above the water. Its diamond-hard shell was cracked, and blood pooled out of the shattered shards and stained the water red. It was trying to close its shell, but even the act of trying seemed to be too much.

"Cloyster!" Violet yelled. She looked on the verge of jumping in herself. She managed to reign herself in, however, and she instead fixed me with a glare. "That was… a powerful move."

"A draining one too," I answered. I was careful with my words. While still a Master and understanding of the kind of damage that her Pokémon was subject to, seeing her friends get hurt was still an emotionally compromising one. Just because you understood the risks did not mean that you were okay with them. "There wasn't really any other way for Free to hit you, though."

Violet nodded, but I could tell by the gleam in her eye that she was plotting my downfall already. She turned to her Pokémon, and the gleam was replaced by a concerned stare. "Cloyster! Are you able to continue?"

Her Cloyster, still bobbing like a bathtub toy, nodded. It turned its attention back to Free, then grunted.

"It appears that the battle is still on then!" the announcer girl called. Her voice rang out through the speakers placed around the field. Honestly, I had forgotten about her.

"Cloyster!" Violet yelled. "**Icy Wind**!"

"Free! **Gust**!"

The two energies roared to life immediately, clashing in the center of the midpoint between the two Pokémon. Even with the added energy from **Quiver Dance**, though, the attacks were equaled out. It was a sad truth but, no matter how impressive Free was, he was still just a Butterfree, and they weren't known for their overwhelming offensive power.

"Enough," Violet growled. If her voice wasn't amplified through the speakers, then I wouldn't have been able to hear it over the howling gales. "Full power. "**Blizzard**."

"Free! **Hurricane**!"

As the two Pokémon switched to the stronger versions of both of their moves, the howling only seemed to amplify. Battering winds met unceasing ice and the two vied for supremacy.

_Ice_ had an advantage over _Flying_. Snow was heavier than the winds.

The **Blizzard** broke through the **Hurricane **at the very last second, rushing forward with all the power of an avalanche. Free managed to pull up a **Protect**, but it still probably hit with all the force of a truck. I saw the green barrier of energy pop up, and then fly backwards as the wave hit it.

My friend hit the wall with a resounding _crack_. I knew that it was broken. The white-out continued for a couple more seconds before finally dying down.

For once, the arena was silent.

I turned to the Cloyster. It was panting heavily. The bivalve was barely able to stay above the surface, and more than half of its body was submerged. Its eyes, one of the only things visible from within its shell, were drooping heavily. I saw parts of its shell fracture and fall into the water.

I turned back to Violet. "You've grown so much, blue."

The middle sister grimaced, but I saw a smile on the tips of her lips. "So you've finally noticed? We're true masters now."

I shook my head. A part of me already knew that. They had successfully inherited the gym from their mother, after all. Still, I supposed that I still hadn't fully put the pieces together. They were just as talented as any other Master I'd fought.

"It seems you ha—" I started, but Violet raised her hand. Her brows furrowed back into a grimace, and her eyes turned hard.

"No," she said. "Not yet. You don't understand, yet."

She motioned to her Cloyster, and it floated slightly out of the water. A bit of rainbow coalesced around its horn, and it stared intently at the wall. The snow that it all but rammed into the side of the gym started falling off in chunks, until only a ball of it was left.

Free chirped weakly as it lowered its move. It was shivering so visibly that I could see it even from my place many meters away. The frostbite on its wings extended even further, and I could tell that even staying up was painful.

I didn't even get a word out before the Cloyster fired its **Aurora Beam**. It flew at the speed of light, cutting through the air and striking Butterfree straight in its chest. Free was pushed back into the wall, where it was pinned until the attack ended. The **Aurora Beam** continued for several more seconds before finally ending, and when it did, Free's body fell limply to the ground.

"It's over," Violet said. I could see the rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing hard. It was adorable. "You've lost."

I didn't answer her. Instead, I opened the buttons of my jacket. It had gotten quite a bit hotter in here. I fanned myself with my shirt, but even that didn't stop the beads of sweat from forming on my forehead.

Violet, of course, started to feel it as well. She moved forward to splash some of the water on her face, but stopped when her hand was mere inches from the water. Her eyes seemed to widen before she looked up to her Pokémon.

"Cloyster! Look out!"

But it was too late. The **Substitute** that was hit by the **Aurora Beam** exploded into dust, and the real Free emerged from up high. The sun gathered from the strengthened **Sunny Day** supercharged the attack, and it was primed almost immediately.

"This was a fun battle," I said. My voice was as gentle as I could make it. I raised a hand, and my fingers came together.

It was a gesture that I often used for moves that involved charging. It was a habit that formed even in my early days of being a trainer.

Violet realized it. She called out to her Cloyster, or tried to, but it was too late.

My fingers snapped.

The **Solarbeam** shot.

And the pool exploded, the water evaporating on contact as the ray of super-concentrated sunlight came down. The room was awash in steam for as long as it took for the industrial fans to come on, and when it did, we saw the winner of the fight.

Cloyster floated, face down, in a very shallow pool of water. It was unresponsive for all of three seconds before Violet returned him. She looked at its ball, eyes lidded, before turning to me.

"You're every bit as powerful as the stories said." A gentle smile came to her face. "You have certainly earned your title."

I shook my head. "It wasn't a title that I asked for."

"We often don't ask for the roles that life has given us." That was her last cryptic thought before retreating. As she walked past her sisters, she raised her hand, open palm, waiting for the high five that would tag her out.

I wasn't expecting Daisy. In terms of power, she was probably the strongest, most experienced sister.

"Gimmy," the oldest sister said. She walked into the Trainer Box previously occupied by Violet. She tapped her foot on the ground, and water flooded in from floodgates that were previously closed. The water level rose, albeit slowly, and Daisy took this time to speak. "I hadn't expected you to wreck my Gym this much. The Indigo League builds government buildings with the durability to endure even the most brutal of **Explosions**." She shook her head. "You exceed expectations even there."

"Me?" I asked. "You guys have somehow become Masters without leaving the city!" I chuckled. "It took me several years of adventures to reach that point."

Something on Daisy's face fell, and I got the feeling that I said something that I shouldn't have. She raised her ball, then clicked the button that had it expand from its portable version to its engaged one.

"Are you ready?" she asked. Her voice wasn't the cheerful timbre I was used to. Instead of dwelling on it, I checked the pool. The water was almost back to the top. It had even filled in the cracks from the last battle.

I looked to Free. "Can you take another fight?"

My _Bug_-type chirped, and a got a general thought from him that said he accepted the challenge.

"We're ready," I said. Daisy nodded. She threw out her ball, and—

The stadium shook. A _massive_ creature erupted from the ball, and once again I was staring down the maw of a Gyarados. It wasn't the biggest one I'd ever seen— no, the biggest I'd ever seen was too massive to even notice me— but amongst Gyarados Daisy's was definitely an outlier.

"Maurice is one of the strongest Pokémon in the Cerulean City Gym," she said. "I'm interested in seeing how you handle him."

Maurice roared his agreement, then focused on my Free. To his credit, Free didn't even flinch once the massive sea serpent set its eyes on him. He did, however, shiver from the leftover chill of his last fight.

It didn't take a genius to see that he wouldn't much last another. It was time to play sneaky.

"And here we have the second match of today!" the announcer girl called. She held up both hands, one to signal each fighter. "Gym Leader Daisy of Cerulean Gym versus Adventurer Champion Gimult!" She brought both hands down. "Start!"

"Maurice! **Hydro Pump**!"

The behemoth was so powerful that it hadn't even needed to gather the _Water_-energy for the attack. No sooner had the command left Daisy's mouth did it have the necessary energy to shoot it. The high-pressured stream of water came out like a beam— devastating even through the inhibiting effects of the **Sunny Day**.

I didn't need to tell Free to dodge. He was still hyped up from his various **Quiver Dances**, and he danced around the beam, even as the Gyarados was firing it so wildly. _Psychic_ shields prevented the viewing stands and the Trainer Boxes from being damaged, but the walls had faint scores in them from the effort.

Like Daisy said, these walls could survive an **Explosion**. Maurice was damn near aiming to kill.

"Free! Don't let it control the fight! **Solarbeam**!"

Free had an abundance of energy to gather thanks to the amplified sun and would only need a second or two to gather enough to fire. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Daisy would let me.

"Maurice! Disrupt!"

In higher level fights, a Trainer would often intervene only to prevent a Pokémon from reverting to its baser instincts. For a Pokémon like Gyarados, it would usually rely on its brute force to demolish anything that was foolish enough to get within striking distance, and **Hyper Beam** to destroy anything that wasn't. Maurice, as well trained as he was, was no different. If left alone, he would likely use a bevy of taught moves to destroy anything that would try to oppose him, but all of them would be devastating, high power moves.

What he did next was not one of those.

Maurice roared, and wind came together at his command. It pulled and tugged, and a faint aura of purple arose from the maelstrom that was summoned.

"**Twister**," I growled. It was a low-level _Dragon_-type move that did very little damage to actual dragons. It was rather weak, all things considered, as it only used a small amount of draconic energy to begin with. It was more to disrupt the energy of other _Dragons_ than cause any harm, and as such stronger ones tended to forgo the move at all.

For here, however, it was perfect. Having no mastery of the _Dragon_ type himself, Free was unable to counter it perfectly. He stumbled, and the solar power he was charging was lost. He flapped his wings, and a quick **Gust** was able to banish the **Twister **as if it were never there. By that point, however, Daisy's plan was already enacted.

"Maurice! **Rain Dance**!"

"Free! Don't let him!"

The Gyarados glowed, then did a little jiggle in the water that was honestly a little weird to see. Regardless, storm clouds started to appear on the horizon. The sky _boomed_ as rain was summoned, and it was only a hastily prepared **Sunny Day**— an orange orb of heat— shot into the sky that stopped the _Water_-boosting rain from coming. Still, the two moves only counteracted each other, and the sky returned to normal afterwards.

I cursed, having lost my advantage. It was only after looking back to the field that I noticed my mistake. Gyarados, despite having its move canceled, had not stopped its little jig. When the glow around him turned from blue to orange, however, I noticed that he was getting faster.

"Free!" I yelled. "It's using **Dragon Dance**!"

Among all the moves both in the game and real life, **Dragon Dance** was the move I hated the most. I remember being swept by Winona's Altaria more times than I could count back in my first life. So, in order to prevent such things, I made sure to have counter-measures installed on every one of my Pokémon.

For Butterfree, it was a technique known as "_**Allergy Season**_."

Free brought his wings in for just a second before spreading them, and when he did, a multicolored array of spores erupted from his wings. It rained down softly; the powders akin to a beautiful kaleidoscope of tiny diamonds descending on the field.

Both Daisy and Maurice's eyes widened when they saw it. Gyarados moved well before his trainer could command him to, and once again I was fighting a Pokémon deep in the water.

"Free!" I called. "Can you use **Cutting Gale**?"

Free shook. It tried to quiver its wings fast enough to use the move, but the frost was restricting movement. On top of that, he _looked_ tired. My Pokémon were strong, but _two_ Master-class Pokémon in a row was tiring for anyone. I returned my eyes to the field. The water was layered with the various powders on top of it, but I knew that it would take a long time before it dispersed throughout the massive pool.

There was only one thing I could do. "Free. Final act! Let's go!"

Free looked at me. His eyes glowed for just a second before he started spinning in the air. Various powders wafted off of him, spinning randomly into the air before settling gently on the water's surface.

We wouldn't be able to stop the beast, but we'd be able to cripple it once it tried to do anything.

"It won't work," Daisy said. "The pool is full of water. Thousands upon thousands of gallons. It won't reach him anytime soon."

"Maybe not," I said. "But it'll diffuse eventually. If it's a battle of attrition you want, we have you beat in at least that much."

"We don't need to beat you in attrition. We just need to set up enough **Dragon Dances**. Maurice! **Hyper Beam**!"

The water fizzled as the high-density attack came roaring out of the pool. Free, having heard the attack, managed to dance out of the way, but the frost of its wings greatly reduced its speed. As the beam swept across the gym, Free desperately tried its hardest to get out of the way, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

A sweeping pass nicked its wing. Free spiraled, no longer able to maintain itself in the air, and when the beam came through for a second pass it was hit full on.

Free hit the Gym's ceiling with a thud. Its body, now limp, fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Return it," Daisy said. Her eyes followed Free as she watched my first capture fall. "He's going to hit the ground."

I shook my head. "I don't have his ball. I told you."

"Then catch him."

I looked to Mimey. Mimey looked at his old friend. His eyes glowed, and Butterfree's falling form was awash in psionic energy. Gently, he lowered his friend to the ground, before turning back to the battlefield.

"And in a stunning upset, our Challenger Daisy has evened the score!"

Neither Daisy nor I payed much attention to the announcer. We stared at each other from our places across the field. Her face was every bit as grim as my own.

"So Violet wasn't the only one to grow stronger," I said. "You guys are surprising me more and more. You never used to be able to beat me."

"Is that it?" she asked. She folded her arms and tapped her finger against her forearm. "Is that all that you've noticed?"

My brow furrowed. "Was there anything else that I should have noticed?"

She shook her head. "No. Call your next Pokémon."

I looked to Mimey. He looked to the ceiling. I followed his stare only to see—

"_U-boi!_" the Boy shouted. He came crashing through the exact same skylight that Free came through. His body, like Free's, was tucked into a tiny ball, but instead of wings he was a ball of brown fluff. He uncurled as he fell, and then landed gracefully on the ground outside of the pool. He straightened himself out, then posed dramatically, his head held high and a shit-eating grin on his face.

I looked at Mimey. He started a slow clap that I quickly emulated. The boy chirped at the applause, then turned and bowed.

The little scamp was a drama king, all the way.

"I'm guessing you're my next battler?" I asked. The Boy looked to me and barked. He shook himself, eyes aglow with mischief, and I didn't believe for a second that the pink colored draft that emanated from his fur was anything but trouble.

Alas, there was nothing I could do about it. I gestured forward, and he approached the field. Since the official bounds of the Gym did not extend far beyond the pool, _Flying_-types an obvious exception, my Boy was forced to enter the water. The floating platforms that drifted lazily on the top were destroyed long ago, leaving the Boy with very little option but to tread the water.

The problem was, however, that the top of the pool was currently layered with several different kinds of debilitating powders.

"Boy, try to—"

He, of course, didn't listen to a word I said. He stepped to the edge, took one look at the congested pool, and barked. Ripples echoed throughout the previously calm waters, and a small circle of clear, crystalline water revealed itself.

"How—" Daisy started. I held up a hand.

"For once, I can't even begin to guess."

Without a care in the world— or a care for the gargantuan water beast that weighed several hundred times his weight— he jumped into the water. He dove a little bit to wet his whole body, then stuck his head back out. With a little doggy paddle the little scamp managed to tread the water, but only barely.

I'm not entirely sure when he learned to swim, but one day he just popped up with a very bad technique. All such attempts at correcting it had failed, so my team gave up on the endeavor.

"You uh," I started. "You sure you want this one?"

"_U-boi!_" he yelled. He turned to me, rather slowly, and glared defiantly at me. As he was an Eevee, it was little more than adorable. Still, that vigorous head nod was impossible to ignore, so I left him on the field.

I wasn't getting into the pool with the giant Gyarados to get him out.

Daisy stared at him. She looked back at me.

"He'll be eaten."

"He knows that."

"Does he know who he's fighting?"

"I do not think so."

Daisy hummed, then snapped her fingers. The pool rumbled, then bubbled as an orange light quickly ascended from the depths.

I opened my mouth. Then closed it. The Boy would know what to do. I looked to him, and he seemed as calm as ever. So I waited.

He didn't disappoint.

The beam came as a roaring blast, shrieking through the water and adding the flash evaporation and bubbling of the water to the cacophony. It parted the pool, like a portal from hell, and spewed death and destruction upon the world.

My Boy, the ever-present rascal, kicked at the water and shot out the way. I stared at him as he did so. Daisy stared at him. I couldn't see Maurice, buried as he was under the water, but I knew that he was staring just as hard.

"How—"

I raised a hand. I knew I would be feeling a headache before the end of this battle.

"I don't know, okay? I just… I don't know."

The Boy, however, didn't seem to care about the several laws of physics that he just casually broke. He flipped in the air, righted himself, then shot straight back down into his little circle of unmuddied pool, made slightly bigger thanks to the destructive ray. No sooner did he land, however, did I finally notice the pink spores that previously wafted off his fur diffuse into the water.

"Boy. What is—"

I couldn't finish my sentence. No sooner had the water start to stain pink, had Maurice come charging out of the depths. Daisy hadn't ordered him to, but there he was, charging at my Boy as if he were the tastiest treat in the world.

It took me a few seconds, but I realized what had happened.

"Did you coat yourself in _**Sweet Scent**_ pollen?" I asked, eyes wide and voice understandably incredulous. I was, of course, talking to myself, as my Boy was currently riding on top of Maurice's head. I could hear his raucous giggling from my place well below them.

Daisy, of course, heard me. "Did you say _**Sweet Scent**_? Where the hell did he find **Sweet Scent** pollen?"

"_The Imp was frolicking in the flower fields of mating Butterfree_," Mimey said. "_It isn't odd that he would be coated in their pheromones."_

Back on the field, the Gyarados continued to thrash. The effects of **Sweet Scent** were potent, and especially so to the sensitive nose of an apex predator like Gyarados. It continued to thrash, wanting nothing more than to rip my Boy to pieces, before my little Eevee channeled energy to its tail. It glowed silver for but a second before hardening into the **Iron Tail**.

With a casual flip it raised its tail into the air and slammed it down onto the behemoth. It flinched and stopped its rampage.

"Maurice!" Daisy yelled. "Snap out of it! Dive deep!"

Now out of his frenzy, he could listen to his trainer once more. Recognition returned to his eyes, and he turned to once more retreat into the waves.

Then the Boy whipped a glob of pink tinged water straight into its nostrils from his fur. The Gyarados stopped, and once more its eyes glazed over. It went into a frenzy once more, and this time the Boy let him.

I watched as the spores still sitting atop the water's surface traced across Maurice's skin. Pink and green and blue stained the dull blue scales of the sea serpent. Unlike normal spores, a Butterfree's powders did not diffuse into water.

With the amount that Free left behind, Maurice would be overwhelmed within a minute at most.

Daisy knew this as well. She grit her teeth, then called. "Gyarados! **Outrage**!"

My smile left my face. Orange energy surrounded the behemoth and its movements became even more violent.

"Oh, fuck." I whispered. I could hear Mimey echo the same sentiment.

You see, Gyarados couldn't typically learn the move. They had draconic qualities, but they were not, themselves, a _Dragon_-type. They could use some _Dragon_ moves, but to use **Outrage** required a ludicrous amount of expendable energy. That was not something that a normal Gyarados would have.

Gyarados, however, could _definitely_ learn **Thrash**. It was their signature move. The two moves were very similar in concept and, given a little bit of ingenuity, could be modified to be one or the other. To turn **Thrash **into **Outrage** was as simple as adding a bit of draconic energy.

Energy that Gyarados had built up in spades.

The **Outrage** started, whipping my Boy to and fro. He held on, of course, claws dug as deep under Maurice's scales as he could afford, and teeth lodged into his gigantic yellow crest, but even I could see how tiring it was to do so. Maurice was, simply put, _absolutely massive_, and any movement he made brought with it such force as to launch my Boy clear across the room and through any number of walls. His tiny body should be little more than a ragdoll as it careened through the air.

And yet, my little Eevee held on. At this point, there was no real order I could give. Holding on was the best thing for him to do right now. Disorienting and tiring as it was, it was better than getting battered by a Gyarados that was big even by their species' standards.

"_U-boi, U-boi, Eevee!_"

My Boy screamed, or, at least as much as his tiny lungs would allow. It was hard to hear over the _roars_ that Maurice was outputting. This continued for thirty very long seconds of torture.

Then he started to slow down. It was a barely noticeable thing, but amidst the chaotic thrashing of draconic energy was a slight twitch. Barely half a second of locked muscle and stillness was all there was to it. Maurice stopped his rampage for just a moment before continuing again, but when he did, it was obvious that the** Stun Spore** had started to kick in. The writhing and tossing of his body went from being violent and destructive to painfully stocky and rigid.

I could see my Boy now. He was no longer just a tiny brown blur on top of a gigantic blue snake. His eyes had opened again, and a tiny streak of yellow lightning danced between his fangs. He didn't have enough time or concentration to really prime it, but I could see him starting to use **Thunder Fang**. No, Eevees shouldn't be able to use that move, but he had shown a surprising amount of dedication towards using moves that his condemned evolutions could.

Maurice flailed for a few more seconds, its convolutions getting stronger as its muscles spasmed, but he eventually started to slow. That he managed to hold out this long was impressive, as a Butterfree's powders were some of the most potent, especially during mating season. He eventually slowed to half-hearted grunts as the adrenaline from the **Dragon Dances** finally wore off, and that's when it happened.

Maurice sagged, his eyes drooping as the **Sleep Spore** had finally managed to overtake his massive amount of energy. A purple hue started to overcome the draconic orange, symbolizing the poisoned state that he was in.

**Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, **and **Stun Spore**. These were the three powders that a Butterfree could use. The most potent of Free's status-inflicting spores were combined and dispersed whenever he used **Allergy Season**, and it was only the circumvention of the pool that prevented his ultimate move from debilitating the leviathan.

Maurice, after three whole minutes of struggling, sagged heavily. His eyes were lidded, barely open, as he allowed himself to sink further into the pool. He flinched every so often, the poison in his body likely causing immense pain, but doing even that much was painful itself, as his muscles were far too paralyzed to condone much movement at all.

Eevee, of course, was okay. He took special care not to allow any of the powders to touch his fur. He had been on the receiving end of Free's attack before, and took special care not to get caught in it again. Now that Maurice was sedated, he no longer had to take special care so as to not get thrown off. He stood proudly upon the head of his much larger foe, before opening his mouth as wide as he could and showing off his canines.

They were soon crackling with _Electric_-energy.

Now, normally, a Pokémon like Eevee wouldn't have anywhere near enough energy to deal a significant amount of damage to a monster like Gyarados. This Gyarados, however, was poisoned, sleepy, and paralyzed. In the game, such a combination of status afflictions wasn't possible. In real life, however…

"Boy!" I called. "**Thunder Fang**!"

"_U-boi!_"

He bit down, fangs leaking lightning, onto Maurice's crest. Daisy called out, but it was far too late. Gyarados likely couldn't fight back, even if he wanted to, and soon the beast was roaring in pain. The lightning made its muscles convulse, and sure enough Maurice spasmed enough to tell that much, but the **Stun Spore** had already made its muscles like sand.

It took only a few minutes, but Maurice eventually succumbed to the pain. He collapsed forward, directly into the pool, and Eevee ran along its body to my side of the pool.

I smiled at him. "You did well, you little scamp," I said.

"_E-voi_!"

With a mischievous little smile, the little hellion shook the water out of his fur. Mimey had, of course, seen ahead and erected a **Barrier** around himself. I had no such luck, and had to endure the deluge. After making sure I was appropriately soaked, my Eevee smiled contentedly.

Then his fur puffed up and I was forced to forgive him. How could anyone stay angry at something so cute?

The sound of a Pokéball recalling its charge was a unique sound. I looked up to see Daisy returning Maurice. When he was back in his ball, she looked at it, eyes lidded and almost sad, before whispering some words that I couldn't hear. She kissed the scuffed red top of it before returning the ball to a belt around her waist.

"I could never understand how you managed to train your Eevee to do all of that." The eldest sister then turned her attention to my Boy. He was sitting on his haunches and straightening out his fur. "You know, it isn't too late to consider a Vaporeon."

My Boy puffed up at such an insinuation. His face scrunched up, and he barked angrily at Daisy for such a harrowing remark.

I chuckled. "I think we'll take a pass."

Daisy's face looked no less grim, but the small smile that spread across her face was reassuring, at the least. I expected her to move away, same as Violet, but instead she simply walked forward. She didn't stop until her toes were hanging over the edge of the pool.

"Gimult," she said. "You're almost done. Just one more battle and you'll be free."

I frowned. There was something off about her tone. "Don't say it like that. It isn't like I consider you guys a prison, or anything."

Daisy hummed. She raised her left foot and dipped a toe in the water. The spores had more or less been absorbed by the thrashing Maurice, but it was still touch-and-go on what was still in there. I opened my mouth to say something, but she had by then pulled her toe back out.

"I've always loved swimming," she said. I closed my mouth as she talked. "Did you know that? From the first time I touched the water, I knew that I wanted to be in it all the time."

Such a thing was obvious. Daisy spent more time in the pool than she did out of it. She had even dipped into the reservoir underneath the Gym, from time to time.

"You've been a mermaid since we were kids," I said. "You're more _Water_-type than some of your own Pokémon."

When I made that joke when we were kids, it would get at least a laugh out of her. Right now, all I got was a stare.

"Yes," was all she said, but the way she said it made it feel like she wasn't even thinking of me. Her eyes were trained on the muddied pool, and her hair draped over her eyes. "I was like that. Wasn't I?"

I raised an eyebrow at such a cryptic response, but like Violet, she retreated before I could ask. I wanted to go to her, to ask the Sisters what the hell was going on, but my last opponent had already taken to the field.

"Gimmy," said Lily. Her hot pink hair bounced with the shaking of her head. She plucked her Pokéball from her belt and held it towards me. The challenge was clear in her eyes. "This is our last battle. Are you ready?"

There was a certain something about the atmosphere. Something in the way they were talking. Something about the finality of their voices that put me on edge. Either way, I nodded. I turned to the Boy and he nodded back, determination etched onto his face.

I stared back at the youngest Sister. "We're ready."


	13. Chapter 13: A Farewell Battle: Part 3

_**Hi, all. I'm here to update. **_

_**It's been a while, hasn't it? Looking into employment and other such things. **_

_**Here's the new chapter. Please review and let me know how I've been doing. I'm also making a Discord, so let me know if that's acommunity you'll be interested in being a part of.  
**_

* * *

A Second Journey:

Chapter 13:

A Farewell Battle, Final

Something was off, here. I could feel it in my gut. Lily, the final sister of the Trio, was never meant to look so grim. Her lips had turned downward, turning her usual pout into a determined frown. Her eyebrows had furrowed together, leaving her eyes to glare wholly at me. Gone was her usual bombastic demeanor, instead replaced by a chilling, lonely silence. No infuriating remarks or petulant whines graced the relative silence of the arena.

Just the gentle lapping of the pool waves and the unsettled murmurs of the crowd.

"Are you ready?" I asked. I had to break the silence. I wasn't used to a silent Lily. I chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood. It did not work. The only response that Lily gave me was an outstretched arm. She pushed the button on her Poke ball, activating it and brandishing it before me.

It was as much a threat as it was the ending of whatever paltry conversation I had tried to dredge up. With a sigh, I nodded. We might as well get it over with.

"The final battle of today's match is featuring the stunning middle sister of the Cerulean City Gym, Lily Waterflower!"

The announcer raised her flag, waving it towards the pink-haired Master across from me. While Lily herself didn't move— no, she didn't even seem to notice her name at all with how hard she was staring at me— the crowd seemed to go wild. They ranted and raved, stomping sandaled feet against the rafters. Lily seemed to have quite the following amongst the Gym Trainers here, even amongst her Sisters.

"Will she be able to overcome the daunting challenge of our resident Adventurer Champion? With only one Pokémon to her name, can she overcome two of Gimult's?"

The crowd seemed to think so. The roars seemed to grow even louder as Lily tossed her scarred Pokéball in the air. It took a few minutes for the crowd to calm down, during which time I carefully observed my opponent.

With Violet and Daisy, there was always this sort of… feeling there. Anxiety, fear? There was only so much I could intuit without Mimey's help. What I could tell, however, was the trepidation that was so obviously there. Neither sister seemed to keen on battling me. No, if anything, they only seemed to want to stall. Did they know that they couldn't win? Possibly. I was a man who had defeated Giovanni, after all. I wasn't a pushover in any means of the sense.

They fought against me, and they fought well, but there was this feeling that they already knew that they were going to lose. It was why they made such sacrificial plays, such as exhausting Cloyster with a **Surf** when their primary element was _Ice_, or forcing Maurice into **Outrage **when he was so obviously afflicted by status.

Their tactics weren't meant to win their battles. They were meant to weaken my Pokémon at any cost.

For Lily, however, I didn't get this feeling. Her stance was wide, but assured. Her eyes were determined, with a frosty fire within that even I would have a hard time quenching.

If Daisy and Violet were here to soften me up, Lily was here to completely dominate. Whatever Pokémon she sent out would be one of overwhelming strength and skill. I would have to be careful.

"Boy," I whispered. I knew the little scamp would hear me. "We're in the endgame, now. This next fighter will not be one that we could just skip by."

The Boy's ear twitched, but he did not make any other indication that he heard me. His tiny body lowered closer to the ground, and I saw his muscles tense. At the very least, he was preparing himself for a real fight. Good.

"Gym Leader Lily!" the announcer called. "Please, release your Pokémon!"

Without a bit of ceremony, Lily released her ball. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I definitely did not expect what I got.

The Boy, if he was tense before, was absolutely wound up now. Even he could understand the gravity of the situation.

A long, serpentine body emerged from the ball, and even before it finished forming it was twisting majestically in the air. Light still shining from its emergence, it dived gracefully into the water, parting the remaining spores and banishing them to the far reaches of the pool. For a minute, a graceful shadow glided effortlessly just out of sight under the surface of the waves, not deigning to surface. When it finally did, the water glided effortlessly off its scales as if it weren't allowed to stick.

Piercing, scarlet red eyes stared calmy at us from Lily's side of the field. Red, eyebrow-like tassels arched off of its face, framing its long cream body most of the way down. Upon reaching its tail, however, the cream of its skin gave way to blue and pink scales, which ended in a fanned blue tail with pink ovals.

All in all, it was a magnificent creature. It wasn't nearly as big as Maurice, but it was still impressively large compared to others of its species. It still dwarfed my boy by far, and even just its head was enough to make my Eevee seem small in comparison.

Lily's Milotic cooed, for it could be nothing but a coo, and instantly I felt the hypnotic effects of her cry. My lust for battle cooled, being replaced by an unnatural calm. Tactics and fighting strategy fled my mind, instead being taken over by a need to cooperate and forgive.

I shook my head. While not a _Psychic_ attack, a Milotic's cry could calm even the most ferocious of beasts. I, however, was not a beast. I would not be swayed by its abilities. I looked to my Boy. He, too, looked mystified, but he managed to overcome the thrall. He barked twice, before roaring an adorable challenge to his opponent.

The Milotic, as calm and majestic as ever, did not respond verbally. It nodded its regal head once, before retreating into the pool. Only its eyes were discernable among the still churning waves.

I hadn't noticed it before, but the crowd was now whispering amongst each other. Hushed murmurs and nervous glances darted from the submerged serpent and its trainer. Even the announcer, usually loud and excited, was subdued.

Something was up.

"We… we didn't expect it. I mean, we did, but…" the announcer stammered. Her eyes would not leave the crest of the Milotic. "Lily's Milotic… The next battle will feature the Gem of Cerulean City itself: Mizuchi."

Awe and wonder and every other adjective to describe gobsmacked perfectly described the people in the room. Some were so shocked that they could do little more than stare, mouths left open and unable to utter a sound. I stared at the Milotic— the way it stayed perfectly abreast of the waves, and they way it moved not a single muscle to do so.

This creature was a monster of the truest sense, even amongst Master-class Pokémon.

How in the hell did Lily end up with it?

"Boy," I called, and for once my voice was more than simply bored. "Be serious."

"_U-boi!_" he cried. He moved forward, purpose in his strides, but he did not enter the water. If that wasn't telling of the danger, then I don't know what would be.

"Match point!" the announcer called. She raised both of her flags, though he eyes did not leave Mizuchi. "Milotic versus Eevee! Begin!"

The flags came down, the horn roared.

Neither Pokémon moved. They stared at one another, scarlet eyes meeting soft brown ones. I turned to Lily, expecting a command of some sort. She did not give one. The two Pokémon stared at each other in silence for what seemed like a tense eternity. In all actuality, however, it was likely little more than a couple of minutes.

The announcer looked at me. She called my name and frowned.

"In official battles, the defending Trainer must make a move if none if made or they forfeit the match. Please, call a command."

I cursed, though I made sure it wasn't loud. I was wondering why I was the defending Trainer in _their_ Gym. It appeared that the girls were using every move in their arsenal to win. Still, I couldn't say that I hated such a tactic.

"Boy," I called. The Eevee spared the smallest of glances towards me. "Start this with a **Swift**."

My Boy, of course, didn't even wait for my command. His eyes glowed, and yellow stars of pure energy coalesced from the very air. They shot the moment they appeared, shooting almost faster than the eye could see towards their target. For most Pokémon, **Swift** was an annoying attack. Weaker than most, but unable to be dodged, it was an attack that whittled down even the sturdiest of fighters given time.

Of course, it did very little to crafty opponents, and with not even the twitch of an eyebrow did the Milotic summon up a colossal wave to absorb the attacks. The wall of water stayed afloat for entirety of the attack's duration, sections falling and rising for just enough time to catch the stars before falling back into the waves.

When the attack ended, the Milotic didn't even huff. It stared passively at my boy, eyes calm and serene as if the last ten minutes hadn't happened.

My Boy turned to me. Fully, this time. He barked twice, then stomped his little feet on the ground.

Yeah, I agreed. This was bad. Really bad. That Milotic hadn't used a single ability. He hadn't moved a muscle or used a move. It had simply _willed_, and the water obeyed. No technique, just pure manipulation of its typing.

This was a True Master of a Pokémon, and I wasn't sure that my Boy was properly equipped to deal with it.

"Boy," I called. The little scamped glared at me, probably already knowing what I was to say. "You don't have to fight this."

My Boy growled, like actually growled, before turning back to the field. He kneaded the floor, kicking up whatever dust he could manage towards me. Well, it was hard to misinterpret that. I nodded, letting him turn back towards the Milotic.

My Boy had a… well, a grudge of sorts towards Master-level Pokémon. Being only high-Elite level himself, he had prided himself on overcoming Master-level Pokémon through sheer determination and cunning.

There were some obstacles that you just couldn't overcome, however, and that was the presence of a true Master. No matter how cunning, how unorthodox you were, certain differences in stats and inborn ability prevented a win. My Boy was one of my first Pokémon, as well as one of my most trusted.

But he was, at his core, still just an Eevee. He could never overcome the pure speed of an Arcanine, or the pure strength of a Machamp. He could trap out a faster opponent and outthink a stronger one. If there was a Pokémon that overcame him in every way, however…

… then that Pokémon was a Milotic in the water.

Simply put, there was virtually no way for Eevee to overcome this obstacle. The spores left behind by Free were brushed aside casually upon Milotic's mere arrival. Any **Sweet Scent** somehow left in the Boy's fur would be either ignored or swept as easily aside. There was no way to control the field more than the Milotic itself would, and there was no way to make it any weaker.

My Boy was on his own against a foe that either matched or outdid him in every way. And yet…

The water splashed as Eevee dipped into the water. It was much less graceful thank his counterpart, but it was no less splendid. He surfaced right after, a little doggy paddle keeping him afloat. He wasn't bad, on the contrary his form was perfect, but it was brutish compared to the seamless movement of the Milotic.

I looked to Lily. Her face was set in stone. She hadn't changed expression even once since the match started. Hands holstered neatly on her hips, she didn't look as if she were even going to gesture. There were no commands that she could issue that her Milotic couldn't do on her own. It was a fully trained Pokémon and could battle on her own as well as if it were being commanded.

I frowned. Then I clapped my hands. My Boy turned to me, nodded, and turned back.

This would be a true battle of higher-leveled Pokémon. No commands would be issued.

The two Pokémon stared at one another, eye contact being made despite the meters of water between them. They floated there, each on their respective sides of the field, for a full minute. My Boy blinked. Not even a second of inattentiveness. The pool erupted.

With a serene cry, the Milotic all but _heaved_ the water from the pool. It came up in wonderfully perfect arcs, twisting in the air as if flowing ribbons. The streams churned, snaking amongst each other and bending as if dancing, before shooting with the speed of a beam toward my Boy.

To his credit, this wasn't a speed that could overwhelm him. It was impressive, but not something he was unused to. My Boy sprung from the water, dodging the first beam by a hair, before flipping out of the trajectory of a second. A third one came around, already aiming for where he would be, but my Boy was no amateur. Opening his mouth wide, he shot out a rudimentary **Icy Wind**. It didn't freeze the water, my Boy wasn't that strong, but it slowed its momentum. He slipped through the space where it would have hit far before it actually did.

I hummed. Impressive. I knew that he was proficient in the water, but never would I have suspected him to be that agile. Any other Pokémon would be overwhelmed by the attack, even some _Water_-types, but not my Boy. He truly excelled where others would fail.

I frowned. It would not be enough. Three flawless dodges was all well and good, but there weren't only three attacks aimed for him. No less that _seven_ more tendrils of water were aiming for him, and he had just re-entered the pool. It would take a second for him to reorient himself, and that would be all that was needed to hit him.

Sure enough, I heard the little scramp cry out. In less that a second since he was submerged, he was out again, weaving between tendrils of water as best he could. At one point he focused _Ice_-power at his feet, creating a foothold that shattered not a single moment later. But it wasn't enough. The wound from the tendril had grazed his stomach, creating a leaking wound that _had_ to have hurt. Red stained the pool as my Boy continued to dance, but even I could tell the very minute loss of speed.

All of that happened within ten seconds. First blood and on the back foot in only ten seconds. And this wasn't even an attack.

The last of the tendrils finally petered out, with the Boy rather sluggishly dodging it. Creating an icy foothold, he flipped off of it back the way he had just come, letting the attack harmlessly strike the water. Landing shakily back on shore, I could see the way that my Boy panted. His entire body was wracked in pain as he tried to shoulder not only the scar on his stomach but the enormous amount of energy he needed just to stay in the fight. He roared, summoning more stars, but the water rose once more to protect its master.

The two were back were they began, but the only difference was that my Boy was much worse off for it. He stood on shaky legs, barely able to hold himself, while the Milotic hadn't seemed to move at all.

"What an _exciting_ beginning to the match!" the announcer girl screamed. If she were trying to hype up the people, it was a moot point. The people in the stands were little more than gobsmacked. "For the first time in a long time, Mizuchi's opening volley was dodged! What is this little Eevee made of?"

Such a statement would normally bolster my Boy's incredible ego even further, but he probably hadn't the energy. He was glaring defiantly ahead of him, unwilling to retreat even a step in terms of will. Mizuchi, on the other hand, was simply waiting there. With all the regality of a king he waited for my Boy to advance. Considering his natural advantage, he had the ability to.

"Boy," I called, worry written on my face. "You don't have to do this. You've already proven your—"

My Boy roared, and once more stars came to life. This time, however, instead of one or two, ten of them were made at once. They flew towards the Milotic, straight and true, and just like last time walls of water rose to intercept them. At least three stars were absorbed by the waves, but unlike last time the others didn't wait to be blocked as well. Their trajectories changed, flying up and around and coming from another angle. Surprised, the great serpent raised more walls rather hastily. They blocked most of the stars.

They didn't block them all.

Two stars managed to reach through the ultimate defense, striking the serpent in both the face and along its body. I could see it wince, and for a second the water walls had fallen. I didn't need to issue a command next. My Boy was already moving, his paws freezing the water upon contact and creating footfalls.

How was he doing this? I hadn't the slightest clue. Still, he ran full force across the waves.

Mizuchi, of course, noticed this. I was of the mind he could feel the movement of every molecule in that pool. He summoned more tendrils, only two this time and shot them directly towards the boy. Just like last time, my Boy weaved expertly around them, stopping for but a moment to right himself when a tendril went wide. He continued his pursuit of his prey, and hadn't stopped until he was mere meters away from it.

A hasty and poorly maintained wall came up. I expect my Boy to dart around it. He, instead, jumped _towards_ it, catching the top of the wall as it rose and riding the frozen bit above. Once he reached the apex of the rise, he flipped off of it. Electricity sparked along his fangs, and he was soon upon the Master-Pokémon. A quick sink of fangs sent electricity coursing through its conductive body, and for a second, I allowed myself to hope.

Then I saw Mizuchi's tail. It waved erratically in the water, but not in any way that would help its situation. Then I realized that it wasn't flailing due to the electricity. It was flailing to start a move.

My eyes widened. "Boy! Run!"

"Mizuchi! **Slam**!"

Before my Boy could comprehend what was going on, a gigantic tail came swinging towards him. He, thankfully, managed to notice it in time, but it was only enough to turn a devastating attack into a glancing hit. Unfortunately, a glancing hit was still devastating. He tumbled tail over head as he was flung bodily away. He skipped over the water like a stone. By the time he reached the end of his flight, he was battered and bruised and sinking into the water.

"Boy!" I yelled, but it was a moot point. Even I could tell that there was no getting up from that. I rushed over and fished him from the edge of the pool, taking special care in case anything was broken. Luckily, it seemed like he was simply exhausted. I cradled him in my arm as I made my way back over to my side of the field.

I made sure to be slow and careful as I deposited him near Free. He wasn't unconscious, far from it, but he wasn't about to be making any more moves. He glared at me, fight remaining in his spirit if not in his body, but I wasn't having any of it. He wasn't strong enough to keep up the fight and I wasn't going to let him.

I rubbed his head until he calmed down, knowing full well that the pup would likely launch himself, bruised and battered body and all, back into the fight if I didn't calm him down first. He resisted the petting at first, but eventually he relented. I smiled.

"If it weren't in the water, you would have won," I whispered. It sounded like a platitude, but it was the truth. Had it been on the Boy's home terrain, that fight might have gone differently. Not _too_ differently, he would have likely still lost, but there was definitely at least a chance of victory.

Unfortunately, the arena was in the water. There weren't many people who could match a fully trained Milotic in such a terrain.

I rose and turned to Mimey. He looked back at me and, with a grim nod, turned to the field. Luckily for me, I had a partner who didn't mind the terrain.

Mimey walked in his weird way over to the field. He stopped at the very edge, before situating himself.

"And it looks like the Adventurer Gimult has chosen his Mr. Mime as his last option!" The awe was there, but it was nowhere near the same intensity as it had been for Mizuchi. The crowd whispered among themselves, but even I could see that whatever wonder they had was still eclipsed by the awe reserved solely for the Milotic.

Whatever could be said of the peanut gallery, however, could not be said for the Sisters. The three Sisters, Lily especially, stiffened once Mimey took to the field. They were far more familiar with my team than their Gym Trainers. Where the Gym Trainers probably followed by exploits as I tore through the Gym Circuits, the Sisters likely saw recordings of my higher-end battles— the very same battles that would not be shown to weaker Trainers.

"Final battle!" the announcer cried. "Mizuchi vs Mimey!" the flags came down. "Begin!"

Mizuchi didn't wait, like last time. There was no period of tentative probing. Attacks were fired immediately, and instead of ten snaking streams of water, no less than twenty were sent out. They fired out, even faster than before, all with a devastating need to puncture my Mimey's hide.

They made it to just before my starter before freezing. Not splashing harmlessly off a wall of **Barrier**. They froze, midair, as if all momentum was stolen from them. The water stayed there, frozen in time before him, and even the Milotic seemed surprised.

"Mimey," I said. "I don't care much how you do it. Just end this so we can get going."

He grunted, and I got a general feeling of disinterest from him, but he agreed, nonetheless. The streams of water, their movement wrested from the control of the Milotic, were turned against their owner. The sped off towards the one who initially fired them, spurned by an overwhelmingly powerful _Psychic_ will, and impacted Mizuchi hard.

Technically, the attack would be described as **Psyshock** in application. In all reality, however, there was no name for the move. Attacks from Master-level Pokémon were often left without names due to the unorthodox nature of their creation. This was no different.

Mizuchi, after only a few seconds, rose from the pool once more. It showed some faint signs of bruising —some broken scales and slight bleeding— but was otherwise okay. For us, such a thing was par the course. For the audience, however…

"I… can't believe it," the announcer said. "Mizuchi was damaged? By his own water?"

Such a thing was obvious, but I could see what it deserved to be stated. It all happened in under the course of a minute, after all. Where before, Mizuchi was able to push through the Boy's tactics with a supreme display of force, now he was put head-to-head with a creature that was not only able to match his power but circumvent it.

If Eevee and Free were my borderline Master-class Pokémon, then Mimey was my pinnacle. There were very few who could outright overpower him, and even less who could outsmart him. Mizuchi was an impressive specimen. Against literally any other Trainer it would be a challenge to overcome.

But Mimey was my ace. He was my final line of defense against Legendary and criminal alike. He was my shield against any who would threaten my team and my spear against all who would wrong us. Mimey, even amongst my harder hitting powerhouses, was a threat that could not be overlooked.

As his eyes started to glow, I could already feel the power rippling through the room.

"Mimey, go."

The room lurched. That was the only way to describe it. Mimey's psychic power pressed down on the room like a giant hand, his **Gravity** increasing the weight tenfold. The water, which was beginning to roil under Mizuchi's power, stilled once more as the Milotic struggled to keep itself above the waves.

Mimey likely couldn't control the water that it was still connected to, but it could affect the field in other ways.

To my surprise, the Milotic hadn't suffered much. Its eyes squinted as it attempted to resist the increased pressure, but I suppose that Milotic were used to a lot of pressure anyway. They _were_ deep-sea creatures, after all. After a few seconds it had all but shrugged off the added affects, only to summon more water tendrils.

Those tendrils collapsed almost immediately. Mizuchi looked at it and whined, unsure as to what was happening.

"The air is infused with _Psychic_ energy," I called, feeling pity for the creature. "Moves using fine control will require much more of it to be used successfully."

Mizuchi glared at me, seemingly angered by my pity. Still, it must have come to the same conclusion. It's finely tuned water manipulation would be hampered greatly by the effects of the **Gravity**, effectively making it unusable as long as it was up. Where precision and skill fail, however, power seemed to usually work just fine. As a Master-level Milotic, it had power in spades.

A **Hydro Pump** came blasting from its mouth in an instant, creating a ripple from where it passed over the pool. Several hundred gallons of water jet-lined through the air, intent on cutting through both steel and flesh alike. Mimey stared at it and entertained the idea of it for its entire duration.

Then he watched as it bounced off the yellow sheen of his **Light Screen**. The force behind the attack wasn't just reduced, it was blocked completely, and Mimey sighed as the attack eventually petered out.

Mizuchi, at a loss, stared at the screen. It looked confused, or at least as confused as such a graceful Pokémon could look. It was about to coo, likely to ask its partner for directions, when a bolt of _Psychic_ energy coalesced in the air and fired.

The **Future Sight** had finally activated. Mizuchi was sent sprawling backwards into the pool.

A smile came to my face. "Nice one, Mimey," I said. "But the other shots won't be so easy. He won't stay still for you to aim the other ones."

Sure enough, once the second **Future Sight **activated, the blast of psionic energy missed by far. Mimey had aimed it for the spot where the sea serpent had been refusing to move. It had since vacated that spot, instead choosing to move rapidly through the water.

So, I'm sure that many people have watched the anime, and I'm sure that many people have wondered why the attack **Future Sight** was never used. In the game, it was because the attack was utterly lackluster. Why use **Future Sight** when **Psychic** did only slightly less damage, but immediately? In the anime, however, such a restriction was moot. There were so many useful real-time applications.

Wrong. **Future Sight** was still terrible. It had a time delay all the same, but it required such a vast amount of energy that any more than a few shots would drain most Pokémon. To add to that, you had to fire at where the opponent _would_ be, or else you would be aiming at air. In higher-end battles it was nearly impossible to predict such things, so the move was ultimately scrapped for unreliability.

Mimey and I pondered over a solution to such a problem for years, using anything from corralling them where the attack would be, to shortening the time delay between the casting and activation.

In the end, we settled on a much simpler approach.

Light filled the room as _several_ **Future Sight** attacks activated at once. The power drawback of the move was made null by a sufficiently powerful psychic, so we aimed for that route instead. Mizuchi, having been expecting them, shuffled in the water, and dodged out of the way of the first volley. The second one it didn't need to dodge, as it had went wide. The third, however, was just off from where he was resting.

Reflexively, the Milotic tried to conjure up a wall of water to block the attack. Such a tactic did not work. The **Gravity** was still active, and as such the wall only made it a bit above the surface before collapsing. Unable to dodge, Mizuchi took a glancing blow. It caterwauled, an unusual sound for a Milotic, before retreating beneath the water.

It was likely diving, pushing itself to the very deep to use a recovery move like **Aqua Ring**. It had likely not been pushed this hard in a while and was going to be serious from this moment onwards.

The pool lit up. Several pillars of light exploded from the deep, turning the pool into a sizzling hot mess of energy.

Mizuchi, the proud, powerful serpent that it was, surfaced not ten seconds later. It floated, belly up, on top of the waves.

As it turns out, accuracy mattered very little if you just rained unholy hellfire everywhere. Something was bound to hit if you made enough shots. Considering that they could be made from just about any angle, they were also very hard to predict.

Mimey had a feeling that the Milotic would retreat underwater. All of the other _Water_-types did. It was a simple matter to push it to the bottom and, from there, it was all over.

Lily recalled her Pokémon, and like that, the biggest threat of the Cerulean Gym was subdued.


End file.
